Oskar Schindler
For years the world took little note of Oskar Schindler.
Although film documentaries were made of his life,
Schindler's story was mainly kept alive in the memories of the Schindlerjuden, who took turns supporting the post-war bankrupt businessman in his declining years. Oskar Schindler had been dead for six years when a broken briefcase and an Australian credit card lifted him from the shadows of history.
In October 1980, Australian novelist Thomas Keneally brought his briefcase into a Beverly Hills luggage shop owned by a man named Leopold Page. Years before, as Poldek Pfefferberg, Page had been one of the workers on Schindler's list. During their 20-minute wait for telephone approval of Keneally's Australian credit card transaction, Page told the author the entire story. He had recited it many times to various writers and producers over the years, but in Keneally he finally found a kindred spirit.
Visit Schindlerslist.com to learn more about Oskar Schindler and the new Schindler's List DVD
More About Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was born in 1908 in the small industrial town of Zwittau, in the Sudeten region, which was then part of the Austrian empire. His father owned a farm machinery plant and Oskar was trained to be an engineer. Although raised as a Catholic, Oskar was not religious and as a child often played with his Jewish neighbors.
In 1939, when Germany overran Poland, Oskar Schindler set
out for Krakow to find his fortune in the very profitable
business of war. Through local Nazi connections, he took charge of a confiscated enamelware factory that made mess kits and field kitchenware for the German army. Oskar Schindler also prospered in Krakow, making the most from his friendships with district heads of various Nazi security forces and Amon Goeth, commandant of the nearby forced labor camp, Plaszow.
His accountant, Itzhak Stern, encouraged him to employ Jewish workers and his personnel grew from 45 workers to over 250 as Army contracts poured in.
His affinity with the Nazi party waned as he continued to witness the sporadic raids and killings that the Jews of Krakow were subjected to. Oskar Schindler then worked with Stern to protect as many Jews as possible. The workforce at "Emalia," as his factory became known, burgeoned triplefold, and whenever a worker at Plaszow was put into direct peril, Schindler gave a black market item for their transfer.
When the Nazis' "Final Solution" took another step and threatened Emalia itself, Schindler used his wealth to buy over 1,100 workers, moving them to the relative safety of Brinnlitz, where he and his workers waited out the war.
Everything Oskar Schindler possessed at the end of the war he lost. He was penniless. He never prospered again.
Schindler's List - Learn More About Oskar Schindler
Visit the Schindler's List web site to learn more about Oskar Schindler and the new DVD. Preorder and buy Schindler's List on DVD or Video online at the Universal Home Video & DVD store.