Oskar Schindler was a man well known for his drinking and womanizing, so he was an unlikely candidate to one day earn the title of �hero.� Too many Jews during the Holocaust however, he was a hero because he saved over one thousand Jews from being killed in a gas chamber. Any poor choices Schindler made in his life were out weighed by his act of kindness to the Jew�s he help that he called his children or �Shindlerjuden.� His story has been told in books and at the movies which has made him not only a hero to the Jews but a hero to the human race.
Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908, in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary. Oskar�s early years were filled with trouble. In 1924 he was expelled from school for forging his grade report and when he returned to school, he had earned the name �Schindler the crook.� Although he did not attend University, Oskar Schindler did attend several trade schools. He worked for his father�s company for several years but it went bankrupt. Schindler then became a salesman for an electric company. In 1938, he joined the Nazi Party, not because he believed in their politics but because he thought being a member would help his sales. Soon after, Schindler was asked by the Nazi�s to be a spy and sent him to Poland. While in Poland, he met a Jewish By 1938, Schindler, who was a very In 1939 Oskar opened a small factory called �Emalia� factory. He acquired this factory through some connections he made through becoming friendly with the SS, Nazi police. His workers were Jews who were paid so little, they were considered slaves.
The Essay on Changes in the Life of Jews in Nazi Germany
The Nazis anathematize the Jews. From a long time ago the Jews were not liked by the people of Europe and in the reign of the Nazis this became much worse. The Nazis officials were given strict orders to exterminate as many Jews as possible. The Nazis wanted to remove the whole of Jewish community. They wanted to eradicate every single Jew in the whole world. The Jews had to face a really hard ...
Initially, Oskar Schindler�s interest in his factory was to make money, even if that meant becoming a member of the Nazi party. He was successful in becoming rich.
The saving of the first Schindler Jews began in 1939, when he came to Krakow in the wake of the German invasion. In Krakow, he took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products. In one of the businesses, however, Schindler was merely a trustee. Looking more for his own power, he opened up a small enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. Here, he employed mostly Jewish workers. This in turn saved them from being deported to labor camps. Then in 1942, Schindler found out through some of his workers that many of the local Krakow Jews were being sent to the brutal Plazow labor camp. This is where Schindler’s connections with the German government were so useful. He used his �know how� to convince the S.S. and Armaments Administration, to make some of the camp inside Oskar�s factory. They approved, Oskar employed even the people who were unfit for work. In turn, he secured over 1,000 Jewish lives from this one action (Paldiel, 1982).
Then in October of 1944, this time with the approach of the Russian army, Schindler used his connections to receive permission to reestablish his once defunct business as an armament production company in Bruunlitz. After some confering with S.S. officials, he was finally allowed to take with him some Jewish workers from Zalocie. Schindler then successful in transferring over 700 Jews from the Grossrosen camp, and another 300 women form Auschwitz. Once in Brunnlitz, these workers were given the best food, clothing, shelter, and medical care that Schindler could afford.
After this successful operation in Brunnlitz, Schindler received word that a train of evacuated Jews from the Golezow camp were trapped in the nearby city of Svitavy. As he had done twice before, Schindler pulled some strings at the top and got permission from German officials to take his workers to the nearby station to rescue the stranded. Once at the station, they forced the doors open to the rail car and removed some 100 half frozen Jews.
The Essay on Oskar Schindler Jewish Workers Factory
... transfer of many Jews to the concentration camp, Schindler used his influence to set up a branch of the camp for 900 Jewish workers in his ... to supply the German front the removal of Jews to death camps began in earnest. Schindler's Jewish accountant put him in touch with the ... return to Germany. He spent the remaining years of his life dividing his time between Germany and Israel, where he was ...
Schindler’s wife Emile did her best to nurse the ill back to health. Those that did not survive were given a proper Jewish burial paid for by Schindler (Paldiel, 1982).
Schindler spent infinite amounts of money not only paying for the upkeep of his workers, but paying the government. Schindler was arrested two times while trying to complete his saving operations. Each time, though, he found a new excuse, or paid a little more money. He risked his life, as well as his family’s lives, to save a race of people he never even knew.
No matter what anyone believes, the story of Schindler touched me. I think to myself, would I have the courage to give up my life for a bunch of strangers? Would I give up all of my comforts and riches with nothing in return? I am a bit bewildered by the story. I wish that I knew exactly why he did the things he did. Some things are left unsaid, I think that is what Schindler believed. He saw no reason to give a why. I think that is why he is a hero. He did not want all the attention and circumstance. He did not want the hero position. I think he saw no reason to brag about what he had done. Schindler knew what it meant to him and those that he saved, and that is all that mattered. Saving those lives was his return for giving up all he had. He died without much fanfare. He was broke and his last few years were rough. He put aside everything he possibly owned. Yet it did not matter. He gave an unselfish love, to the Jews. Schindler is without a doubt a hero for many reasons. Most importantly, he helped to save a race of human beings.
