Oskar Schindler'S Role in Saving Jews During The Holocaust

During the brutal times of the Holocaust, there was “killing of millions of Jews and other people by the Nazis during World War II” (Merriam Webster Dictionary), many devastating events happened. During these times of war and anti-semitism some people stood up to the injustice of these events. The situation of this could not have been worse, 6 million Jews were killed and about 3 million other minorities or people the Germans qualified as “impure” were murdered. At this time, not everyone wanted to be part of the Natzi party but felt that they had to based of the currents German social standards. One person that wanted to defy the Natzi Party was Oskar Shindler. Oskar Schindler was a man who was born on April 28, 1908. He was born in Svitavy, a small city in Czechia. After he lived in Suitavay, he moved to a city called Burno. He lived there for a while and sold property and put himself into multiple different business ventures. All of this eventually led him to Krakow, Poland where he would eventually establish one of his factories and become what I call a hero. Oskar Schindler has some interesting stories of how he became a hero, what he was before he impacted hundreds of lives, and even how he did all of it (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

I: Who Was Oskar Schindler

Before Schindler was able to save hundreds of Jews from Auschwitz, he was a normal person like you and me. He grew up in a small town which today, according to Citypopulation, has a population of about 16,937. He was the oldest of two children in his family. His sister, who was named Elfriede Schindler, lived with Oskar and his parents Hans and louisa. Oskar Schindler was an average student during his school days. He ended up deciding to go to a trade school after his initial education instead of going to college. While at this trade school he studied in a multitude of topics. From here, Oskar Schindler seems like a very nice and normal person, even though he would always jump at an opportunity to make some cash if he could. He was one of those people that was very good at making a drinking life. (Biography.com).

After his work in trade school, he took a particularly odd set of jobs. He worked for some time with his father in which his business sold farm equipment and machinery. At other times he even worked in selling government property and at one point, he owned a driving school. After he dipped his toe into these different fields, he was recruited into the Chezklosovakiak army in 1938, he even achieved the rank of Lance Corporal while in the reserves (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). This then brings us to WWII, which began on the first of September 1939. This was more than a war it was mass discrimination to a large group of persons, in this case Jews, and even led to about the killing of six million innocent Jewish persons. This event would bring up an unlikely person to help Oskar Schindler.

II: What Did Oskar Schindler Do

The way that Oskar Schindler became so know up to this day is because of the acts he did in his life of sixty-six years. As stated already, He was able to save the lives of more than 1,000 Jewish Holocaust victims (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). He saved these lifes by bribing and negotiating with Natzi higher ups. It all started when Schindler moved to Krakow, Poland from where he lived preouly in Sutivay. His reason for moving here was because he wanted to take advantage of the current economic and governmental changes, Schindler wanted to Germanize this newly captured area of Germany, Poland. When this entrepreneur moved to Krakow he opened a factory called the Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik Oskar Schindler. Or in English German Enamelware Factory Oskar Schindler (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). He owned this business because he had purchased it from a Jewish Owned company that called themselves, Rekord Ltd. This factory also had a nickname they would call it Emalia. This factory was very near the Plaszow Concentration Camp and even nearer to the Ghetto. This factory was special because it was the only place where he allowed for Jewish workers to work there. And by work there, I mean forced to work there. Over half of the total work force of about 1,700 were forced labor Jews. They would come from the concentration camp and work for the day and go back to sleep in the camps. Schindler, even though he was part of the Natzi Party, would try to make good working conditions while they were at his factory. (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum).

Before the workers were coming to Emalia they came from the also terrible conditions of the Krakow Ghetto. They came from here until the Ghetto got liquidated in March of 1943. Schindler assisted the Jews by claiming that his factory was beneficial for the war and he added on a weapons manufacturing area to the factory to persuade the Natzis to continue to let him have the factory opene,d to the captives of the Concentration Camp. And later on he let the workers live in the factory and that let them nearly escape death. Schindler also was playing a narrow game, he got arrested three times for aid to Jews. Although things don’t always go well, a group of soldier that worked under Hitler ended up moving the Jews that he gave refuge to back to that camp full time. Schindler the wanted to open a factory in Burno. He planned on keeping the workers here full time. He wrote a list of people he wanted to work for him that would become the famous Schindler’s List. The list includes about 800 men and 300 to 400 women. Many of them were saved from being moved to Auschwitz and places where they would most likely not survive. He then operated the sub-camp for about eight months, in that time he only made about one load of weapons.

III: How Did Oskar Schindler Do It

Oskar Schindler was able to save the 1,200 innocent Jewish persons, but how. After all he was mostly a businessman. He was able to take in the Jews by Bribing and using his name and noteriety from the Natzi Party. He ended up at the end of his life of 66 year penny less. He was never able to recover from the money he spent on saving the people who he thought that mattered and he didn’t go along with what mostly all of the people in Germany thought.

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