Oskar Schindler

1. Oskar Schindler By: Haneen Hussein (me!)

2. Who was he? ₁ • Oskar Schindler was a Catholic, German who was born on April 28, 1908 • He comes from a poor family, but eventually worked his way up and became rich when he was older • He was a bright student, and at a young age he began helping his father in the factories and farms they owned • At the age of 31, he joined the Nazi Party

3. What did he do? ₁ • Schindler was known as a hero to many people. He is mainly known for he actions of helping the Jews • He was rich, so when he grew up he owned many factories (that were especially useful during the war). These factories were used for building weapons and making uniforms for the army • There was one specific factory that was very important: Emalia. This factory was used for “escape”

4. What did he do? (cont) ₁ • He took the ID’s and documents of over 1,000 Jews and changed them to make the Jews seem like normal German citizens • After that he would employ them in his factories under different names. So when the SS or the German police would come by they would not suspect anything • These actions saved the Jews from being drafted into the war, or put into concentration camps (such as Auschwitz)

5. The factory- Emalia

6. “Schindler’s List” ₁ • There were papers found in among his belongings that had many names on them. These files were called “Schindler’s List” • They were basically names of Jewish people he employed into his factories. It had about 1,200 names on it.

7. Schindler’s List

8. Why did he do it? ₂ • All the Jewish people were originally put into the ghettos and when the German army decided they needed more space, they made the decision of moving the Jews into camps. • Schindler heard of this news and decided that he needed to do something about it, so he began working on the factories and transferring as many Jews as he can into his factories as employees.

9. Consequences ₁ • His actions did not go unnoticed. The SS and the German police were very suspicious of his actions and they did arrest him multiple times, but he was never kept in custody. • On the bright side: he saved over a 1,000 Jews (about 800 men and 300-400 women) from living the horrors of the concentration camps by doing simple things he had the power to do.

10. After the war • After the was, Schindler decided to leave Germany- whether it was to get away from police, to escape the memories, or just to leave no one knows. ₁ • He died on October 1974 and was buried in Jerusalem. ₂ • It is amazing that he was Catholic and he was part of the Nazi Party.

11. Survivors- Leon Leyson (3) Leon Leyson was a Jew who was put into a concentration camp with the rest of his family as well. He was telling his story at the University of Chicago. He recalls the memory of Oskar Schindler and how he used to come to the camp and talk to the other Jews. He said that when you talked to Schindler you saw a “spark of humanity”. He says his name and his mothers name were on Schindler’s List, but were removed for a while. He told the story of his mother, he said she was waiting outside of the gas chamber and then was pulled out of line. She was told that she was part of the 300 women that were going to Schindler’s factory. Leon recalls the experience and he said, “In the darkness of all Europe, there was a little light named Schindler.”

12. Survivors- Sam Wertheim (4) He was a Jewish man who was sent to the concentration camp in Auschwitz and has been there for a while, and he still wears the number that was printed on his arm. He said that “the horror of the time is engraved forever” in his memory and that “the memories will haunt him for the rest of his life”. He calls himself a survivor, but to him survivor can have different definitions based on the circumstances it is said. To him a “survivor” from the holocaust means that they survived physically, but are still emotionally/mentally imprisoned in the memories and horrors. He begins telling his story by comparing Schindler to a parent who tells his children to stay calm and trust them. He said Schindler walked up to him and said, “Don’t be afraid, who ever works for me will survive the war.” He said Schindler was “a shining star” and “a spark of hope”. He also said that Schindler “became a god-like figure for those of us who were lucky enough to be in his care”. He said that Schindler helped 300 Jewish women and 800 Jewish men from concentrations camps. He told the story of how Schindler risked his life multiple times to help the Jews. One day Schindler was arrested and put into prison for a couple of days. When he came out he realized that the 300 women were taken to the camps. Sam said that Schindler automatically went to the camps and brought back all the 300 women and made sure they were safe. Schindler aslo made sure to give every Jew a weapon for self-defense before he let them out.

13. Bibliography • Holocaust Museum. "Holocaust History." Oskar Schindler. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005787>. • "Who We Are." Poland / Oskar Schindler. The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, 2012. Web. 03 Mar. 2013. <http://www.jfr.org/pages/rescuer-support/stories/poland-/-oskar-schindler>. • Tenuta, Anna. "Schindler’s List Survivor Speaks at I-House." The Chicago Maroon. N.p., 27 Jan. 2009. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. http://chicagomaroon.com/2009/01/27/schindlers-list-survivor-speaks-at-i-house/ • "Holocaust Survivor Testimony: Sam Wertheim (Kraków, Poland) (Schindler's List)."YouTube. YouTube, 08 Feb. 2012. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e63iPYzwkjs>.