A method to protect a power converter arrangement with a power converter device that has a direct current side that is connected with a DC intermediate circuit, an alternating current side, and controllable switching elements (S1-S9) that can be controllably switched at a high frequency to convert the DC voltage of the DC intermediate circuit into a multi-phase AC voltage, the method comprising: providing a protective device, that can be activated and deactivated, to protect the power converter device from overload by connecting a rectifier circuit with rectifier elements, at least some of which are thyristors (Thy1-Thy6), to the AC side of the power converter device, and connecting a bypass branch to a DC side of the rectifier circuit, the bypass branch having a brake resistor (R b ext) for transforming energy dissipated from the AC side of the power converter device into thermal energy, when necessary; and if a predetermined error situation is detected, triggering the thyristors of the rectifier circuit to turn them on, to activate the protective device; and if it is detected that the predetermined error situation disappears, turning off the thyristors of the rectifier circuit by ending the triggering of the thyristors and actively controlling the power converter switching elements to produce a sequence of voltage pulses of suitable polarity and amplitude to serve as a thyristor turn-off sequence which is applied to the protective device to force commutation of the current from the protective device to the power converter to deactivate the protective device, wherein to limit the current commutation speed (di/dt) when the thyristors of the protective device are turned off, the switching elements of the power converter device apply a voltage pulse with the smallest possible amplitude V conv to the protective device according to the following equation: V conv = V dc m − 1, where V dc is the positive voltage of the DC intermediate circuit and m corresponds to the number of levels of the power converter, and wherein before the active triggering of the switching elements of the power converter device to turn off the thyristors, the current through the bypass branch comprising the external brake resistor R b ext is limited to a value I clamp by applying a voltage pulse with the smallest possible amplitude V conv, such that: I clamp = V conv R b ext. providing a protective device, that can be activated and deactivated, to protect the power converter device from overload by connecting a rectifier circuit with rectifier elements, at least some of which are thyristors (Thy1-Thy6), to the AC side of the power converter device, and connecting a bypass branch to a DC side of the rectifier circuit, the bypass branch having a brake resistor (R b ext) for transforming energy dissipated from the AC side of the power converter device into thermal energy, when necessary; and if a predetermined error situation is detected, triggering the thyristors of the rectifier circuit to turn them on, to activate the protective device; and if it is detected that the predetermined error situation disappears, turning off the thyristors of the rectifier circuit by ending the triggering of the thyristors and actively controlling the power converter switching elements to produce a sequence of voltage pulses of suitable polarity and amplitude to serve as a thyristor turn-off sequence which is applied to the protective device to force commutation of the current from the protective device to the power converter to deactivate the protective device, wherein to limit the current commutation speed (di/dt) when the thyristors of the protective device are turned off, the switching elements of the power converter device apply a voltage pulse with the smallest possible amplitude V conv to the protective device according to the following equation: V conv = V dc m − 1, where V dc is the positive voltage of the DC intermediate circuit and m corresponds to the number of levels of the power converter, and wherein before the active triggering of the switching elements of the power converter device to turn off the thyristors, the current through the bypass branch comprising the external brake resistor R b ext is limited to a value I clamp by applying a voltage pulse with the smallest possible amplitude V conv, such that: I clamp = V conv R b ext.