The invention relates to a power module (3) for a converter (1), in particular for a multilevel converter. The power module (3) comprises a link circuit capacitor (30), two connection terminals (32, 33), at least one half-bridge (34) connected in parallel with the link circuit capacitor (30) and having two semiconductor switches (36, 37), and, for each half-bridge (34), a bypass diode (42) connected in parallel with a first semiconductor switch (36) of the half-bridge (34) and a load-relief circuit group (40) connected in parallel with the first semiconductor switch (36), which load-relief circuit group comprises a load-relief thyristor (44) and a load-relief diode (46) connected in series with the load-relief thyristor (44).