Oskar Schindler

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"He who helps in the saving of others, saves himself as well" (Von Aue). Oskar Schindler saved a thousand people by protecting them during. During World War II, Germany put in the efforts to "aryanize" the nation. The Nazis killed a massive number of Jews within the walls of their  concentration camps, and not all members of the Nazi party approved of such action, Oskar Schindler was such a member. Schindler joined the party after his homeland was taken by Germany . He came to Krakow in hopes of hitting it rich and walking away from the war a millionaire. Schindler witnessed the harsh conditions of concentration camps, watched the brutality of SS leaders, and the terrible ending the Jews would eventually face, death. Oskar Schindler protected his Jews by employing them in his factories, and when the SS came knocking on the door to try to take them away, his excuse would usually be, "they were essential to the war effort" (Schindler). Oskar Schindler is a hero because he started out living in a comfortable environment, but he saw the wrong in the events taking place, and took an effort to try to stop it, putting himself in harm's way, and does not care for the harsh consequences he might face. Schindler is a selfless and courageous man, he serves as a beacon of inspiration for the future.

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To this day Oskar Schindler remains to serve as a reminder to follow what you truly believe is right. Don't follow the glorious and shining path laid by the ones before you, take the untaken way if your heart tells you so. According to Crowe, Schindler was given the award for being memorable in history: "In 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council posthumously presented the Museum's Medal of Remembrance to Schindler" (Crowe). The Holocaust Memorial Council gave Schindler the medal he deserved saving those people. The many Jews he saved, his "children" came to pay their rescuers a visit, so they can finally put him in a place they deemed highly "After his death in Hildesheim, Germany, in October 1974, the mournful survivors brought the remains of their rescuer to Israel to be laid to eternal rest in the Catholic Cemetery of Jerusalem. The inscription on his grave says: 'The unforgettable rescuer of 1,200 persecuted Jews"(Vashem). Schindler, one man, kept twelve hundred Jews, that were condemned dead, alive. Schindler lives on forever in history, by doing the right things in times of turmoil. He walked through the midst of shadow and walked out untouched.

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Unlike most war profiteers, Schindler spent all his profit on saving the Jews. Oskar Schindler began as one the many people that seeked to the war for money. He was able to turn and tried his best to stop the thing that he deemed immoral. Schindler came to Germany in search for pots of gold, and at first he succeed. There was one thing that he could not overlook, that was the mass killing of Jews.  "At the point when his ambitions have been realized and he could walk away from the war a rich man while 'his Jews' die in Plaszow and Auschwitz, Oskar Schindler desperately spends every penny he has bribing and paying off Amon Goeth and other Nazi officials to protect and save his Jews" (Bulow). This quote shows Schindler's selflessness as he spends every single hard earned penny on people that he barely knew, simply because he couldn't stand the injustice inflicted upon them. The gruesome details of concentration camps are well known, and being another concentration camp,  Emalia's Jews would not be spared, but Schindler's constant  interruption prevented these rulings from being executed. "Although the prisoners deployed at Emalia were still subject to the brutal conditions of the Plaszow concentration camp, Schindler intervened repeatedly on their behalf, through bribes and personal diplomacy, both for the well-being of Jews threatened on an individual basis and to ensure"(Crowe).He used his life skills and money to make sure the Jews were safe. Schindler realizes he could make tons of money, leave the war with clean hands, and live out the rest of his life, but he decides to spend all the earnings on saving the thousand Jews from deportation to death.

Oskar Schindler realizes that he, by himself, holds the life of more than a thousand living beings in his hands, and he had the courage to hold this great responsibility. Schindler steps up to the role that was thought to be impossible, and he was courageous while doing so. Many a times, as described by Bulow:"To more than 1200 Jews Oscar Schindler was all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis"(Bulow). This shows the amount of courage Schindler had, he knew there was only him, keeping his "people" alive. Schindler was long suspected of protecting something that he shouldn't, ironically, his Nazi friends had to bail him out of jail. "Schindler did not act here without risk or cost; his protection of his Jewish workers and some of his shady business dealings led SS and police authorities to suspect him of corruption and of giving unauthorized aid to Jews. Waffen SS, the elite police force in Germany, arrested him three times, while he owned Emalia, but were unable to charge him" (Crowe). While he had ownership over Emalia, he protected his Jews constantly, knowing the consequences, but stood strong anyhow. He would face Nazi officials, fake records, just to save his Jews.

Sources Cited

"The Oscar Schindler Story." The Oscar Schindler Story. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.oskarschindler.com/>

"Oskar Schindler." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Council, 2014. Web. 4 May 2015. <http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?moduleid=10005787>

Crowe, David. Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story behind the List. Cambridge, MA: Westview Press, 2004. Print.