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Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler. By Ben Barrow. Early Life. Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 into a Sudeten German family in Zwittau, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Hans Schindler and Franziska Luser , They divorced when he was 27.

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Oskar Schindler

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  1. Oskar Schindler

    By Ben Barrow
  2. Early Life Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 into a Sudeten German family in Zwittau, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. His parents were Hans Schindler and FranziskaLuser, They divorced when he was 27. Schindler was brought up in Roman Catholic faith. He never formally renounced his religion. Oskar was never more than an indifferent Catholic.
  3. After School After school, he worked as a commercial salesman. On March 6, 1928, Schindler married Emilie Pelzl. During the Great Depression, Oskar changed jobs several times. (He also tried starting various businesses, but always went bankrupt.)
  4. Political Life He joined the separatist Sudeten German Party in 1935. Schindler became a spy for the Abwehr. He was convicted of espionage and imprisoned by the Czechoslovakian government in July 1938. Fortunately, he was released as a political prisoner as a result of the Munich Agreement. In 1939, Schindler joined the Nazi Party. He became a well-respected guest at Nazi SS elite parties.
  5. Early War Schindler was one of many who desired to profit from the German invasion of Poland in 1939. He gained ownership from a bankruptcy court of an unused enamelware factory in Kraków. He named it Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, or DEF. Schindler was able to obtain around 1,000 Jewish forced laborers to work there.
  6. Change of Heart While witnessing a raid on the Kraków Ghetto in 1943 where soldiers were used to round up the inhabitants for shipment to the concentration camp at Płaszów, Schindler was horrified by the murder of many of the Jews who had been working for him. He knew that it was his job to protect his workers and people of the Jewish faith. He was a very persuasive individual, and after the raid, increasingly used all of his skills to protect his Schindlerjuden ("Schindler's Jews“).
  7. Taking Action/Respect for the Jews Schindler went out of his way to take care of the Jews who worked at DEF. Whenever "Schindler Jews" were threatened with deportation, he claimed exemptions for them. In the factory itself, Jewish workers were treated civilly. The Jews were able to pray in a minyan daily. They gathered at night to learn Chumash and exchange words of Torah and stories of Gedolim. At the close of Shabbat, the workers gathered for Shalosh Seudos and sang zemirot (Shabbat-table songs), said words of Torah, and told stories of tzaddikim.
  8. Trouble with Government Schindler was arrested three times on suspicion of black market activities and complicity in embezzlement. AmonGöth, the commandant of the Płaszów camp, and other SS guards used Jewish property (such as money, jewelry, and works of art) for themselves, although according to law, it belonged to the Reich. Schindler arranged the sale of such items on the black market. He was also accused of breaking the Nuremberg Laws after kissing a Jewish girl. None of his arrests led to a trial, mainly because he bribed government officials to avoid further investigation.
  9. Schindler: The Hero As the Red Army drew nearer to Auschwitz and the other easternmost concentration camps, the SS began evacuating the remaining prisoners westward. Schindler persuaded the SS officials to allow him to move his 1,200 Jewish workers to, in the German-speaking Sudetenland. This allowed them to be spared from certain death in the gas chambers. 1,000 of Schindler's workers and 200 other inmates made up these 1,200 Jews.
  10. After the War Schindler and his wife fled to Austria's U.S. zone, escaping prosecution by dressing in prison clothes and carrying a letter confirming their heroic actions. Eventually, in 1948, Schindler emigrated to Argentina where he went bankrupt. He left his wife Emilie in 1957 and returned to Germany in 1958. Here, he had a series of unsuccessful business ventures. In 1968, he began receiving a small pension from the West German government.
  11. Death Due to a heart complaint, Schindler was taken to the Saint Bernward Hospital in Hildesheim on September 12, 1974. He later died on October 9,1974, at the age of 66 at this hospital. Schindler wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. (He said, “My children are here.”) After a Requiem Mass, Schindler was buried at the Catholic Franciscans' cemetery on Mount Zion. He is the only member of the Nazi Party to be honored in this way.A sign at the entrance to the cemetery directs visitors "To Oskar Schindler's Grave".
  12. Schindler’s List Schindler's story, retold by Holocaust survivor Poldek Pfefferberg, was the basis for Thomas Keneally's book Schindler's Ark. The novel was published in America as Schindler's List. Later, it was adapted into the 1993 movie Schindler's Listby Steven Spielberg.
  13. Quotes “If you saw a dog going to be crushed under a car, wouldn't you help him?” “I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.” “Beyond this day, no thinking person could fail to see what would happen.” All these quotes show how Schindler saw that action needed to be taken. Innocent lives could not just be ruined and taken advantage of. Schindler saw the need for someone who cared to help with the situation and make a difference.
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