The Commandant is eventually taken away by other soldiers. By then, he's a broken man.
When Bruno first goes missing, searchers look for him. They only find his clothes. His disappearance changes his father. At first, he's harder on his soldiers until they hate him. He wakes and sleeps thinking of Bruno. His wife and Gretel leave him and go back to Berlin.
One day, the Commandant goes to the fence where Bruno's clothes were found. John Boyne writes:
There was nothing particularly special about this place, or different, but then he did a little exploration of his own and discovered that the base of the fence here was not properly attached to the ground as it was everywhere else and that, when lifted, it left a gap large enough for a very small person (such as a little boy) to crawl underneath. He looked into the distance then and followed it through logically, step by step by step, and when he did he found that his legs seemed to stop working right—as if they couldn't hold his body up any longer—and he ended up sitting on the ground in almost exactly the same position as Bruno had every afternoon for a year, although he didn't cross his legs beneath him.
It's clear that he understands exactly what happens and the truth breaks him. He sits there every day until "other" soldiers come to take him away and he is ordered to go with them. Boyne never says exactly which soldiers come for the Commandant. He only says that Bruno's father was glad to go with them. He didn't care what happened to him anymore. His son's death and his own culpability have already destroyed him.
The end of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas details what happens with Bruno's family following his death. His father, the commandant, is extremely shaken by losing his son but does not realize the tragedy that has occurred for quite a while. Missing his son, he becomes violent and angry, particularly in his duties in the military.
Eventually, though, when he realizes what must have happened, he essentially experiences a psychotic breakdown. He falls into deep despair and depression, angry and saddened by what happened—realizing that his son really is gone, never to return. As a result of his erratic behavior and mental state, he is eventually deemed unfit and removed from his post, taken away by other Nazi soldiers.
After Bruno dies in the gas chamber inside Auschwitz, his parents are devastated, and his mother and sister end up traveling back to Berlin while his father stays at the concentration camp. Several days after Bruno disappears, soldiers discover his clothes by the fence and inform the Commandant about their discovery. After the Commandant sees Bruno's clothes by the fence, he remains confused about his son's disappearance. The following year, Bruno's father turns into a merciless commandant and cannot sleep at night without thinking about his son's disappearance. One day, Bruno's father returns to the location where they found his son's clothes and theorizes that Bruno was able to sneak underneath the fence, where he died inside the concentration camp. The Commandant ends up losing hope and becomes overwhelmed with despair and loneliness. Eventually, the Commandant loses his position of authority and is taken away by the Nazi soldiers without protest.
The Commandant, Bruno's father, is devastated by the loss of his son. At first, when Bruno goes missing, it seems like the young boy has disappeared off the face of the earth. There appears to be no explanation for what has happened. And despite a thorough search of the camp and the surrounding area, no trace of Bruno can be found.
But a year later, when examining the perimeter fence, the full realization of what really happened to Bruno finally dawns upon his father. He collapses to the ground, utterly destroyed. In the ensuing hours and days he effectively loses the will to live. Nothing matters to him anymore; he no longer cares about his role as camp commandant. So when soldiers are sent to relieve him of his command, Bruno's father goes along with them without a word of protest. He knows his life is already effectively over.
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