Introduction to Oskar Schindler It was once said that in times of trials, help can come from even the most unlikeliest of places. There were many examples of this, but one of the best examples I can think of is Oskar Schindler, in the II World War. Oskar Schindler was a catholic (but by no means religious) business man who was a womanizer, and was on the list of friends and contacts of most high- ranking and even lower-ranking Nazi officials. He resorted to trickery, bribery and deceit to get his own way. I have to admit, he doesn’t sound like a very nice person, but you don’t know the whole story. His own way was saving as many jews that he could, and he tricked, bribed, and cheated those same Nazi officials that regarded him as friends. In this research paper, we will look at Oskar Schindler’s life before, during, and after the war, as well as how his life lives on because people remember him. Oskar Schindler's life before the war Oskar Schindler was born on April 28th, 1908 in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary(Zwittau is now in Moravia in the Czech Republic). Schindler’s parents were fairly wealthy, so not much was denied him as a child or adolescent. Growing up, motorcycles were his passion. Being rich, he always had the privelege of riding through town on the latest, fastest, most powerful model. He entered many a race, and in one big race, besides a minor technicality, he beat Europe’s best. He worked in his father’s farm machinery factory in the 1920s, until age 19, when he married a young woman named Emilie. His father didn’t approve of their marriage, because of who he was marrying or because he was too young, we don’t know. He did marry, however, and left his fathers employ. They moved into their own house, but they were never without a mistress or two. He went to work in Krakow, Poland for a Moravian Electric Company. For a night of fun, he would go out and drink a lot. Gambling was also another of his habits. He won big, but lost bigger. He continued this trend until the beginning of the war. (Paldiel, M.P.; Gale Research; Pottinger, S.P.) Oskar Schindler's life during the war As the war commenced, Schindler made a deal with the Abwehr(military unit/ leader) that he would pass along any information he learned about military activity in Poland, as he went back and forth to Krako quite frequently. In return, he was exempt from military service. Krakow had a very high jewish population, because Poland was a relative haven from the rest of Nazi Europe. When the Nazis invaded Poland, Schindler was right at their heels, trying to projit in some way, shape, or form. He got a lot of connections with the guestapo using booze and women. Un beknownst to him at the time, would save him a little later on. His “friends” and connections helped him to get ome of the factories that jews had been forced out of. He operated one as a trustee for the German gouvernment. This was about the time he met Itzak Stern, a jewish accountant, who he hired and in some cases, helped him with business decisions. Stern was also the man that suggested Schindler employed jews for the factory. Because of the war, jewish labourers were the cheapest around. There were no laws about minimum wages or other human rights and justices for them. Schindler started his own enamel works factory in the outskirts of Krakow. He employed many jews there, too, thereby saving them from deportations. In 1942, Schindler’s office manager and several other of his employees were among the first to report to the train station for deportation when the Nazis started clearing out Krakow. Schindler got angry and went down to the train station where he argued his way into keeping his employees. When others were being sent away, Schindler was persuaded by Stern to hire another 150 jews. By the end of 1942, Schindler’s factory had grown to 45,000 square metres, and employed almost eight hundred men and women(370 jews). It was considered a big advantage to go to work everyday in a German factory, getting to leave the ghetto everyday. Jews started to trust Schindler, and they asked if their families could be hired on and brought into their “haven” of sorts. Throughout the ghetto, word spread that Schindler’s factory was safe. Schindler also falsified his records. Old people were recorded as being twenty years younger, children were registered as adults. “Lawyers, doctors, and engineers were registered as metal workers, mechanics, and draughtsmen, all considered essential to the war production”¹. This saved a lot of lives, because otherwise they would have been sent to extermination camps- they weren’t good at the kind of work that needed to be done. There were many murders in the streets, but life in the factory was still going on, relatively unchanged. All that was about to change. On March 13th, 1943, an order came to clear the factory. All the workers were taken to the Plazcow labour camp. The camp was brutal. Hundreds died, and others had been sent to Auschwitz. Soon Stern became ill, and sent word to Schindler. Schindler came, and smuggled food and medicine into the camp. He continued to visit until Stern recovered. Still, what he saw chilled him to the bone. Schindler got permission to set up a factory in the camp, where employed the jews in the camp. Nobody was ever mistreated, killed, or beaten in his factory, but it was getting harder to lie. He couldn’t keep the Nazis off of the jews. Whenever a jew was to be killed for a “wrong doing” his usual response would be “Don’t worry about this trivial thing! We’ve got a war to win! These things can always be taken care of later.”, and most times it worked! In spring 1943, he changed his obsessions to helping the jews, and saving as many as possible. Soon, since the camp was supposed to be destroyed, Schindler suggested that they keep the camp, and the large buildings would be ideal for labour to be done for the war effort. Commander Goeth(who ran the Plazcow camp) liked Schindler, because his idea gave the Commander a good status with higher officials. Unfortuneately, times became more and more difficult. The Nazis started retreating, and the camp was ordered to be destroyed. Schindler went to work on his drinking buddies, because he wanted to save more jews, and his drinking buddies were the Nazi officials that could let him do just that. Finally someone gave him permission to take 700 men and 300 women to a new factory. So, he compiled a list(Schindler’s list) of the names of those he wanted to save. The rest of the 25,000 jews were sent to Auschwitz. The output for the ten months in the new factory, which was supposed to be making pparts for V2 bombs, was nothing. Oskar and Emilie slept in the factory, not in their nearby villa, because the jews were afraid a night fright of german guards would break in. When the Russians came, and he was sure his jews would be safe, he slipped away into the night with his wife and a few of his closest jewish friends. He didn’t want the Russians to shoot him without asking questions. (Paldiel, M.P.; Gale Research; Pottinger,S.P.; Anson, D.A.; Steinhouse, H.S.) Oskar Schindler's life after the war, and his memory living on Oskar Schindler wasn’t heard from again until several months later, when he showed up deep in American territory. He fled to Argentina, and lived out the rest of his days in the homes of those 1200 jews he had saved He did return to Europe, but nothing could ever be the same. There was always a place for him to stay with them. There have been countless documentaries about this man, including the Steven Spielberg hit, “Schindler’s List”. He has a tree named after him on the street of the righteous in Israel. (Steinhouse, H.S.) A Conlusion To this day, nobody is quite sure why he did what he did, but everyone’s glad he did do it. It might have been decency, but there wasn’t much decency around at the time. Around the world there today are more than 6,000 people that are descendants of the people he saved. It just goes to show that one man can make a difference, even in such an event as the horrific Holocaust. I hope you have learned as much as I have as I discussed Oskar Schindler’s life before the war, during the war, and after the war, and how his memory lives on. -Daniel Barbour Bibliography 1999 Oskar Schindler in Encyclopedia of World Biography. Supplement A-Z(vol. 8 pg. 362-365) Farmington Hills, M. I., Gale Research Ansen, D.A.(1993, Dec. 20) [magazine title unknown] Paldiel, M.P.(1990) Schindler, Oskar in Encyclopedia of the Holocaust (vol. 4 pg. 1331-1332) New York, Macmillan Publishing Co. Pottinger, S.P. “Oskar Schindler” Available: http://www. us-israel.org/biography/schindler.htm/schindler Steinhouse, H.S.(1995) The Man Who Saved a Thousand Lives Fensch, P.F. (Ed) Oscar Schindler and his List. Vermont, Paul S. Eriksson