Arnold Büscher

Arnold Büscher (16 December 1899– 2 August 1949) was a German SS officer.At the rank of SS-Obersturmführer, he was the second and last commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, succeeding Amon Göth, from September 1944 until about January 1945.

Büscher was born on 16 December 1899 in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany.

Büscher became member of the SS in 1931. After the outbreak of the Second World War, he worked at many concentration camps, including Flossenbürg, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen and Neuengamme.

Büscher succeeded Amon Göth as the commandant of Płaszów concentration camp after Göth was arrested on 13 September 1944. Büscher resisted Oskar Schindler's efforts to include 300 Jewish women on his list of Schindlerjuden for work at Schindler's new factory in Brněnec, instead sending them with other Jews of Płaszów to Auschwitz I. Furthermore, Büscher, perhaps out of spite for Schindler, requested of Auschwitz I commandant Richard Baer that 300 different Jewish women be sent to Schindler's factory. However, Schindler was able to pay Baer to send him his 300 female Schindlerjuden.

On 23 January 1948, Büscher was sentenced to death in Poland for his crimes at Płaszów. He was executed by hanging on August 2, 1949.