Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler was a man who owned a factory.

Long ago, a war began. During this war, many people were treated very unfairly. Oskar wanted to help them. He used his money to buy gifts for leaders. This helped keep his workers safe. He saved about 1,200 people.

He spent all his money to do this. Many people remember him as a hero today.

He is honored for his brave choices.

Oskar Schindler was a German businessman.

He lived during a very dark time in history. This was during the Second World War. At that time, the Nazi party treated Jewish people very unfairly. Many were sent to camps where they were killed.

In 1939, Schindler moved to Kraków, Poland. He started a factory that made enamelware, which is metalware coated in glass. He hired many Jewish workers. At first, he wanted to make money. But later, he wanted to save lives. He used his wealth to protect them. He gave expensive gifts and bribes to Nazi officials. This kept his workers from being sent away.

In 1944, he moved his factory to a new place. This helped save about 1,200 people from certain death. He spent all his money to keep them safe. After the war, he moved to Argentina. Later, he returned to Germany. The people he saved helped him survive.

Today, he is remembered as a hero. He is buried in Jerusalem.

Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who became a hero. He lived during the Second World War. This was a very dark time in history. During this time, the Nazi Party treated Jewish people very unfairly. Many were sent to camps where they were killed. Schindler used his position to save many lives. He is remembered for his courage during the Holocaust.

Schindler used his business to protect his workers. He owned a factory in Kraków, Poland. This factory made enamelware, which is metalware coated in glass. At first, he wanted to make money from his business. Later, his goal changed to saving people. He hired many Jewish workers to work for him. He claimed they were needed for the war effort. This helped keep them safe from the Nazi officials.

To keep his workers safe, Schindler had to act quickly. He used his money to pay bribes to Nazi leaders. He gave them expensive gifts from the black market. He also used his connections to the Abwehr, which was a German intelligence service. These connections helped him protect his staff from being sent away. He even helped families who had fake papers. He worked hard to stop the officials from taking his people.

In 1944, the war situation changed for everyone. The Nazis began closing some of their camps. Schindler knew his workers were in great danger. He convinced a commander named Amon Göth to let him move. He moved his factory to a place called Brünnlitz. A man named Mietek Pemper helped make a list of names. This list included 1,200 Jewish people. These people traveled to the new factory in October 1944.

Schindler spent all his money to keep these people alive. By the end of the war in May 1945, he was no longer wealthy. After the war, he lived in West Germany and then Argentina. Later, he returned to Germany. The people he saved helped support him during his later years. In 1993, he was named Righteous Among the Nations. He is buried in Jerusalem on Mount Zion.

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party. He is best known for his humanitarian work during the Holocaust. During this period of history, the Nazi regime persecuted Jewish people across Europe. Schindler used his business connections and wealth to save approximately 1,200 Jews from death. He achieved this by employing them in his various factories located in occupied Poland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Schindler's journey began in Zwittau, Moravia, where he was born in 1908. Before the Second World War, he worked in several different trades. In 1936, he joined the Abwehr, which was the military intelligence service of Nazi Germany. As a spy, he collected vital information regarding railway systems and troop movements. He was even arrested for espionage by the Czechoslovak government in 1938. However, he was released following the terms of the Munich Agreement.

In 1939, Schindler moved to Poland and joined the Nazi Party. That same year, he acquired an enamelware factory in Kraków, Poland. This factory was originally called Rekord Ltd, a business owned by Jewish businessmen. Schindler renamed the facility the Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik, or DEF. He also used his connections to the Abwehr to secure military contracts. These contracts allowed him to produce enamel cookware for the German military.

At the height of his operations in 1944, the DEF factory employed about 1,750 workers. Of these employees, 1,000 were Jewish. Initially, Schindler hired Jewish workers because they were cheaper to employ under Nazi wage laws. However, his motivations shifted from profit to protection. He used his status as an essential war producer to shield his staff. He frequently claimed that women, children, and people with disabilities were necessary mechanics or metalworkers.

To keep his workers safe from the SS, Schindler engaged in constant bribery. He provided Nazi officials with expensive luxury items obtained through the black market. He also relied on a network of contacts, including an accountant named Itzhak Stern. Stern helped manage the business and provided advice on how to maintain independence from Nazi dictates. By 1944, Germany was losing the war, and the SS began closing eastern concentration camps. Many prisoners were being sent to Auschwitz or Gross-Rosen to be murdered.

To prevent his workers from being deported, Schindler negotiated a major change. He convinced Amon Göth, the commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp, to let him move his factory. The new location was Brünnlitz, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. A Jewish Ghetto Police officer named Marcel Goldberg provided names for the transition. Then, a secretary named Mietek Pemper compiled and typed a list of 1,200 Jews. These individuals traveled to Brünnlitz in October 1944 to work in the new factory.

Schindler spent his entire fortune on bribes and supplies to keep his workers alive. By the time the war in Europe ended in May 1945, he was no longer wealthy. After the war, he lived in West Germany and later moved to Argentina with his wife, Emilie. When he faced bankruptcy in 1958, he returned to Germany. During his later years, he was supported financially by the "Schindlerjuden," the people he had saved.

Oskar Schindler died on 9 October 1974, in Hildesheim, Germany. He is the only former member of the Nazi Party to be honored with a burial in Jerusalem on Mount Zion. In 1993, Yad Vashem named both Oskar and Emilie Schindler as Righteous Among the Nations. His life has since been immortalized in the novel Schindler's Ark and the film Schindler's List.