Oskar Schindler (28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was an ethnic German industrialist, German spy, and member of the Nazi party who is credited with saving the lives of over 1,200[1][2] Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.[3] He is the subject of the 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark, and the 1993 film based on it, Schindler’s List[4] which highlights the contradictory trajectory of an opportunistic and amoral man initially motivated by profit, who came to show extraordinary initiative, tenacity and dedication in order to save the lives of his Jewish employees, ending his life in poverty.
This is the true story of one remarkable man who outwitted Hitler and the Nazis to save more Jews from the gas chambers than any other during World War II.
It is the story of Oscar Schindler who surfaced from the chaos of madness, spent millions bribing and paying off the SS and eventually risked his life to rescue the Schindler-Jews. You may read the letter written by his Jews May, 1945.
Oscar Schindler rose to the highest level of humanity, walked through the bloody mud of the Holocaust without soiling his soul, his compassion, his respect for human life – and gave his Jews a second chance at life. He miraculously managed to do it and pulled it off by using the very same talents that made him a war profiteer – his flair for presentation, bribery, and grand gestures.
In memory of 6,000,000 Jews killed by the Nazis during World War 2. In 1933 nine million Jews lived in the countries of Europe that would be military occupied by Nazi Germany. By 1945 two out of every three Jews had been killed. 1.5 million children were murdered – more than 1.2 million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children and thousands of handicapped children.
Side view of grave of Oskar Schindler in the Mount Zion Franciscan Cemetery, Jerusalem. He is the only grave piled with stones, a custom usually seen only in Jewish cemeteries, indicating the many Jewish visitors to his gravesite.