Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler (April 28, 1908 – October 9, 1974) was an Austrian businessman famous for his efforts to save his Jewish workers from the Holocaust. He saved up to 1,200 Jews by having them work in his munitions factory in what is now Poland.

Related Topics:
April 28 - 1908 - October 9 - 1974 - Businessman - Jew - The Holocaust - Poland

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Schindler was born in Zwittau (now Svitavy), Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now Czech Republic), into a wealthy business family. The family suffered in the Great Depression of the 1930s and Schindler joined the Nazi Party. He was a and an opportunistic businessman. Following the German invasion of Poland, he was one of many who sought a profit in the new territory. Schindler cheaply acquired a factory in Krakau, which he named Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, producing enamelware. He also obtained around 1,300 Jewish slave labourers in order to work at the plant. Some say that he was, at least initially, motivated by money—hiding wealthy Jewish investors, for instance—but later he began shielding his workers more actively. He would, for instance, claim that unskilled workers were essential to the factory, and that harming them would result in his complaints and demands for compensation from the government.

Related Topics:
Svitavy - Bohemia - Austria-Hungary - Czech Republic - Great Depression - 1930s - Nazi Party - German invasion of Poland - Krakau

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Being a witness of a 1942 raid on the Kraków Ghetto, when the soldiers were transferring the ghetto inhabitants to the concentration camp at Plaszow, Schindler was appalled by the murder of many Jews who tried to hide in their homes. He was a brilliant diplomatic individual, and after the raid was increasingly prepared to use all his skills to save his Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews). He arranged with Amon Göth, the commander of Plaszow, for 900 Jews to be transferred to an adjacent factory compound where they would be relatively safer from the depredations of the German guards. Schindler was arrested twice on suspicions of conspiracy, but both times managed to evade being jailed. Schindler would typically offer bribes to government officials to avoid investigation. When advances of the Red Army threatened to liberate the camps, they were destroyed, and a majority of the inmates were executed. Schindler managed to move 1,200 "workers" to a factory at Brünnlitz (Brn?nec) in Sudetenland in October 1944. When a shipment of his workforce was misrouted to Auschwitz, he managed to have them returned to him. Brünnlitz was liberated in May 1945.

Related Topics:
1942 - Kraków Ghetto - Concentration camp - Plaszow - Amon Göth - Conspiracy - Red Army - Brünnlitz - Sudetenland - October - 1944 - Auschwitz - May - 1945

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At the end of the war Schindler emigrated to Argentina. He went bankrupt and returned to Germany in 1958 to a series of unsuccessful business ventures. Oskar Schindler died in Hildesheim, Germany, on 9 October 1974, at the age of 66. (The movie Schindler's List claims he died in Frankfurt – possibly because it is better known.) He is honored at Israel's Yad Vashem memorial to the Holocaust as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations" and was buried at the Christian (Roman Catholic) Cemetery at Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

Related Topics:
Argentina - 1958 - Hildesheim - 9 October - 1974 - Schindler's List - Frankfurt - Israel - Yad Vashem - The Holocaust - Righteous Among the Nations - Christian - Roman Catholic - Mount Zion - Jerusalem

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Schindler's story was the basis for Tom Keneally's book Schindler's Ark (the novel was later re-named Schindler's List), which was adapted into the 1993 movie Schindler's List. In the film, he is played by Liam Neeson.

Related Topics:
Tom Keneally - 1993 - Schindler's List - Liam Neeson

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