The Holocaust stands as a profound and enduring tragedy of modern history. The crimes of the Nazi regime remain a source of horror, reminding us of the terrible potential for evil when hatred and unchecked power are given free rein.
Yet, amidst the darkness, acts of courage and resistance shone through. Individuals risked their lives to challenge the Nazi regime’s atrocities.
Oskar Schindler is one such example. Though initially motivated by personal gain, his experiences during the war transformed him into an unlikely hero. Leveraging his cunning, wealth, and connections, he ultimately saved over a thousand Jewish individuals from the Holocaust’s horrors.
Oskar Schindler: A Complex Figure
Oskar Schindler was born into a prosperous and respected family in Zwittau, then part of Czechoslovakia. His father’s agricultural machinery factory provided him with a comfortable upbringing.
The economic collapse following World War I, although devastating for many, left the Schindler family relatively unscathed. Oskar continued to enjoy a privileged lifestyle, marked by fast cars, motorcycles, and social gatherings.
His 1928 marriage to Emilie Pelzl brought a substantial dowry, intended to ensure their financial security. However, Schindler squandered these resources on extravagance and infidelity. Despite this, Emilie remained by his side.
Opportunism Amidst War
The year 1935 marked personal and professional losses for Schindler. His mother’s death and the collapse of his family’s business led him to a sales position with Moravian Electrotechnic.
Seeking opportunities, he joined the Sudeten German Party that same year. While the party held anti-Semitic views, Schindler’s primary motivation was networking and securing lucrative contracts.
He further aligned himself with the Nazi regime by serving as a spy for the Abwehr, gathering intelligence on Czechoslovakia. After the German occupation of the Sudetenland in 1938, Schindler formally joined the Nazi Party.
When Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Schindler followed, intent on exploiting the war for profit. He established a business supplying military equipment to the German army, viewing the conflict as a means to personal wealth, not a humanitarian crisis. At this stage, the suffering of the Jewish population held little significance for him.
Oskar Schindler: from Industrialist to be a Humanitarian
Oskar Schindler, leveraging military connections, established a factory in Kraków, Poland, to manufacture goods for the German war effort. Named Deutsche Emailwaren Fabrik, or “Emalia,” the factory produced items such as mess kits and kitchenware.
Kraków’s landscape rapidly transformed under Nazi occupation. Following the invasion of Poland, systematic persecution targeted the city’s Jewish community. Measures included forced registration, the formation of a Jewish Council, and the requirement to wear identifying armbands. The Nazis eventually confined Kraków’s Jews to a segregated ghetto. Schindler drew much of his workforce from this marginalized population, exploiting discriminatory laws to minimize labor costs and maximize profits.
In March 1941, the Kraków Ghetto was established, imprisoning 15,000 to 20,000 individuals within barbed wire. Only those with official “worker” designations could exit, an identification that offered temporary protection from deportation to concentration camps.
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Despite Kraków’s ghetto facing less severe food shortages than its counterparts, malnutrition remained a critical issue. After Jewish people were deprived of earning a living, their survival depended on a ration card system within the ghetto. Recognizing his workers’ plight, Schindler supplemented their meager rations with additional food.
Escalating Nazi brutality against the Jewish community deeply disturbed Schindler. The SS’s violence spurred him to act, leading to extraordinary efforts to protect the lives of his Jewish workers.
Oskar Schindler’s Efforts to Protect Jewish Workers
Oskar Schindler employed strategic maneuvering, including bribery and appeals to German officials, to safeguard the Jewish workers in his factory. He emphasized their vital role in supporting the war effort, helping him to prevent their deportation to extermination camps.
However, the situation remained precarious. Abraham Bankier, who played a role in financing Schindler’s factory, narrowly escaped deportation to Auschwitz after being apprehended by the Gestapo without his essential worker identification. Schindler’s intervention saved Bankier, vividly underscoring the constant threat.
Schindler further bolstered protections by modifying factory records with specialized skills for each worker, decreasing the chances of their removal. Yet, the escalating violence under the new Plaszow concentration camp commandant, Amon Goeth, posed further danger.
Goeth’s brutal campaign of relocating Jews from the Kraków Ghetto into his camp negatively disrupted the factory’s operations. Witnessing the violence within the camp visibly traumatized workers, hindering their productivity.
In a determined act to protect his employees, Schindler orchestrated the establishment of a sub-camp adjacent to his factory. This enabled him to shield the Jewish workers from Goeth’s direct brutality.
Even with this sub-camp, the risk remained high. Schindler skillfully diverted attention and potential interference from the SS through distraction and bribes, as evidenced by Itzhak Stern’s account of unexpected factory inspections.
Oskar Schindler’s Brünnlitz Relocation
By mid-1944, the Nazi regime faced increasingly dire circumstances. Soviet forces advanced from the east, while Allied troops pushed inward from France.
Realizing the approaching Soviet threat, the Nazis began evacuating Jews from Plaszow. Upon learning that his male workers faced transfer to the notorious Gross-Rosen concentration camp, and his female workers to Auschwitz, Oskar Schindler took action.
To safeguard his workforce, Schindler sought a new factory location in Czechoslovakia. He identified a suitable building in Brünnlitz and, through persuasion and bribery, secured official authorization for the relocation of his operations. He meticulously compiled a list of Jewish workers destined for the new factory.
Operational complications arose. The male workers were initially sent to Gross-Rosen, enduring three weeks of hardship before their transfer to Brünnlitz. The female workers were mistakenly sent to Auschwitz, requiring Schindler’s direct intervention to secure their release and transport.
Schindler’s focus shifted entirely from profit to the protection of his Jewish workers. He dedicated resources to procuring scarce food and supplies through the black market and facilitated the observance of religious holidays within the factory.
The Legacy of Oskar Schindler
On May 7, 1945, Oskar Schindler learned of the war’s imminent end through a British radio broadcast. He shared the news with his workers, offering words of remembrance for those lost in the Holocaust.
Schindler’s life-saving efforts had protected over a thousand Jewish individuals from Nazi persecution. However, this act of defiance had depleted his wealth. In the postwar years, Schindler resided in Regensburg and Munich, offering testimony that contributed to the prosecution of prominent Nazis, including Amon Goeth, who was executed on September 13, 1946.
Schindler’s later life was marked by challenges. His strained marriage ultimately dissolved, and his subsequent business ventures met with limited success. Despite this, he received financial support from the Jewish community and made annual visits to Israel in celebration of his birthday.
oskar schindler post war 1949 A photograph of Oskar Schindler, 1949. Source: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington DC
Schindler succumbed to liver failure on October 9, 1974, at the age of sixty-six. He was laid to rest in Jerusalem’s Mount Zion Cemetery.
Oskar Schindler’s story, widely recognized following Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Schindler’s List,” remains a source of both fascination and inspiration. While he began World War II as a flawed individual, the Nazis’ brutality ignited a profound transformation within him.
History reminds us that even in the bleakest of times, extraordinary acts of heroism can emerge from the most unanticipated sources.
