The Holocaust: the Figure of Oskar Schindler

The Holocaust research paper assignment about Oskar Schindler. Was he a hero or a traitor? What was the significance of Oskar Schindler rescuing Jews?

Oskar Schindler - The Introduction

Born on the 28th of April, 1908 in the city of Svitavy, Sudetenland (now part of the Czech Republic) Oskar Schindler became one of the few Germans to resist the fatal effects of the holocaust. Schindler was a member of the Nazi Party throughout WWII while contributing to the rescue of approximately 1,200 Jews from the German military by providing protection for them in his factories. Oskar Schindler No one can directly pinpoint exactly what led him to save the lives of so many during WWII.

What was Schindler’s early life like?

Oskar Schindler was born into a German Catholic family, however, not known to many, his neighbours were a Jewish family and their two sons became Schindler’s closet friends.Oskar Schindler’s home in Sudetenland. Schindler attended multiple trade schools before leaving in 1924 due to lack of interest and began working for his father Hans Schindler in his machinery company.

What led Oskar Schindler to join the Nazi Party?

During the 1930s, Europe’s political prospect underwent dramatic changes due to the advancement of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Oskar Schindler socialising with a member of the Nazi Party. Schindler did not have the intention of saving Jews during WWII, his decision to join the Nazi Party was merely opportunistic when he decided to collect information for the German military. On the 1st of September 1939, Germany began the invasion of Poland, thus starting WWII. Schindler relocated to Krakow and by the month of October, he was using black market goods to bribe big-league German officers.

How did Oskar Schindler start his enamelware factory?

The story of Oskar Schindler is riveting because he was far from a saint. He cheated on his wife countless times, he drank immensely and spied for the Abwehr, (the German military) in Czechoslovakia and yet he gave up virtually everything in order to save the Jews from the anti-sematic violence experienced in the Nazi invaded parts of Europe. 

Schindler’s intention of purchasing a former Jewish enamelware factory was to produce goods for the German military. He came into contact with a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern who recommended Krakow’s Jewish community to work in the factory. The factory started on the foundation of 45 employees and expanded to more than 1,700 at its peak in 1944.

Schindler’s main goal of the factory was to make money. In the beginning, the employment of Jews was solely based on their cheap labour. However, with the escalation of hostility towards the Jews, his mindset had been changed. With Stern’s assistance, he began to hire more Jewish labourers, regardless of their age or working abilities. By 1942, the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews) made up nearly half of the factory’s employees.

The unfortunate events of relocating Krakow’s Jews into concentration camps took Itzhak Stern and several hundred other staff of the factory with them. When Schindler was informed of this news he fleetingly ran to the trains and argued his staff out of tragedy stating that they were a crucial component to the war effort. After a heated argument with several SS officers he was able to escort the Jews back to his factory.

Schindler requested to relocate his factory and his staff to Brnĕnec, Sudetenland to produce war goods. This is where Itzhak Stern and Marcel Goldberg a Jewish ‘clerk’ played the largest role in compiling the multiple transport lists of 1,200 Jewish names that were deemed necessary for the new factory. Schindler did not write these lists, he merely granted permission by signing them. In the last remaining months of the war he did not want to contribute any longer. The Schindlerjuden were directly instructed to produce defective merchandise that would all fail inspection.

What happened to Oskar Schindler After the War?

Oskar Schindler was bankrupt multiple times after WWII due to his participation in the rescuing of Jews. The rest of his life was dependant on the donations from the Schindlerjuden.Oskar Schindler with the Jews he saved during WWII. He died of liver failure in Frankfurt on the 9th of October, 1974 at age 66. Schindler was so infatuated with his Jewish people that he requested to be buried in Jerusalem. “The defining measure of Schindler’s commitment to doing everything possible to save his Jewish workers came in the fall of 1944, when Oskar chose to risk everything to move his armaments factory to Brunnlitz,” writes David Crowe, citing Dr. Moshe Bejski, who was saved by Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust. “Oskar could easily have closed his Krakow operations and retreated westward with the profits he had already made. Instead, he chose to risk his life and his money to save as many Jews as he could.”

Bibliography

• Biography.com Editors, Oskar Schindler Biography, https://www.biography.com/activist/oskar-schindler. (Friday, 16 August 2019)
• Stuart Anderson, Oskar Schindler: The Untold Story, https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2014/03/19/oskar-schindler-the-untold-story-3/#1eb7cc745537. (Monday, 19 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler Prewar, http://www.oskarschindler.com/1.htm. (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler The War, http://www.oskarschindler.com/7.htm. (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler Rescue, http://www.oskarschindler.com/6.htm. (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler Aftermath, http://www.oskarschindler.com/8.htm (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler Survivors, http://www.oskarschindler.com/9.htm (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Louis Bülow, Oskar Schindler Emilie Schindler, http://www.oskarschindler.com/10.htm (Tuesday, 20 August 2019)
• Crowe, David, Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities and the True Story Behind the List, Colorado, United States: Westview Press, October 26, 2004