Amon Goeth's Daughter Monika
Monika Göth in
front of Amon Göth's villa at Plaszow
Photo Credit: Don Holtz
Shown in the photo above is Monika Göth
standing at the rear of the house where Amon Goeth, the Commandant
of the Plaszow concentration camp, lived with his mistress Ruth
Irene Kalder, who was Monika's mother. This was the last of the
three houses where Goeth and his mistress lived during his time
at the camp.
The balcony on the upper story of the
house in the photo is where Goeth shot prisoners in the camp
with a high powered rifle when Plaszow was a labor camp and not
yet under the jurisdiction of the SS Economic Administrative
Main Office in Oranienburg, according to Thomas Keneally's novel
Schindler's Ark, on which the movie Schindler's List was based.
After the camp became a concentration camp, Goeth was not allowed
to shoot prisoners at random, according to the novel. At the
time that Plaszow was a labor camp, Goeth and his mistress Ruth
Irene Kalder did not live in the house shown above.
Still shot from the
movie Schindler's List
The photo above shows Ralph Fiennes as
Amon Goeth, shooting prisoners in the Plaszow camp in the movie
Schindler's List. In the background is the quarry where Steven
Spielberg built a replica of the Plaszow camp. The actual camp
was in another quarry nearby, which was not visible from Amon
Goeth's balcony. Note that the balcony shown in the movie was
not the balcony of Goeth's villa.
The quarry where Schindler's
List was filmed
The color photo at the top of this page
is a still photo from a documentary film entitled "Inheritance," which is about Monika
Goeth's struggle to come to terms with her inheritance as the
child of Nazi monster Amon Goeth.
Monika Göth was born in November
1945. Her father was executed by hanging on September 13, 1946
when Monika was 10 months old. His last words were "Heil
Hitler."
Portrait of Monika
Göth, daughter of Amon Göth and Ruth Irene Kalder
Photo Credit: Don Holtz
According to David Crowe, in his book
"Oskar Schindler," Ruth Irene Kalder had her name and
her daughter's name legally changed to Göth with the help
of Amon Franz Göth, Amon's father. Ruth claimed that she
and Amon were engaged to be married but because of the chaos
at the end of the war, the marriage was never performed. Ruth
called Amon by his childhood nickname "Mony" and named
her daughter Monika after him. Ruth defended Goeth until the
end of her life; she said in an interview in 1983 that Goeth
was no worse than the other SS men. She described him as a cultured
man who had a beautiful singing voice and impeccable manners.
According to David Crowe's book, Monika
spent her days riding horses and playing tennis and her evenings
at lavish parties in the villa. Ruth claimed that she never went
to the Plaszow concentration camp, where Amon Goeth was the Commandant.
Monika poses in front
of Amon Göth's villa
Photo Credit: Don Holtz
In the background of the photo above
is the rear of Amon Goeth's villa at Plaszow, where he allegedly
shot prisoners in the camp with a high-powered rifle from the
balcony.
Monika Göth speaks
with Helen Jonas, Amon Göth's maid
Photo Credit: Don Holtz
The photo above shows Helen Sternlicht
Jonas on the left and Monika on the right. In the background
is the Jewish memorial stone at the site of the former Plaszow
camp. Goeth had two Jewish maids, both named Helen, who lived
at his villa. Helen Hirsch Horowitz, the older of the two, was
the maid that was featured in the film Schindler's List.
This page was last updated on March 18,
2009
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