Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler with a few of the Jews he saved (http://www.oskarschindler.dk/legacy/oskar-schindler4.jpg)

“To more than 1,200 Jews Oskar Schindler was all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis.”(Bulow). Many people know Oskar Schindler as a businessperson who conned the Nazis and saved many Jews during World War II. What many people do not know is that his life before and after the war was not so glamorous. Before the war, he was a drinker, gambler, and broke the law many times with questionable business practices. After the war, he was broke because he had spent his entire fortune saving the Jews. He was the epitome of an unsung hero. Few knew of his heroism until after his death, and he went to his grave perceived as a drunk, gambling, man who lost his fortune. Nevertheless, Oskar Schindler, a close “friend” to the Nazis and savior of many Jews, is a hero for his courage, intelligence, and selflessness.

Schindler as an Adult (http://www.chhooi.com/mrh/images/schindler1_web.jpg)

Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 in what was then Zwittau, Moravia (now part of the Czech Republic). There were many German families there, including the Schindler family. He grew up among Germans and going to a German-language school, but two of his childhood friends were sons of a local rabbi. When he married a woman named Emilie, he left his father’s employment and got a job with a Moravian electric company. This job took him away on business to Poland and he fell in love with that country. When Adolf Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, he took the opportunity to move to the country he had already fallen in love with, and to profit from the German invasion. Schindler quickly became friends with the leaders of the new Nazi government and eventually opened a factory that would work for their army. He then hired a friend by the name of Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant who served as his liaison with the local Jewish business community. He hired many Jews to work in his factory, and when the Nazis started taking Jews to death camps, he ended up using his factory to save them. On May 7, 1945, Schindler heard the war was over, so he fled the country. Schindler died in Hildesheim, Germany on October 9, 1974. However, he chose to be buried in Israel because he said that is where his people were: the ones he saved.

Oskar Schindler used his courage and intelligence to trick the Nazis and save the Jews. When describing how Schindler tricked the Nazis it is said, “He told the Nazi officials that there were (sic) an increasing amount of work to get done. Thus, he was able to get the relatives of the Jewish workers sent to the plant, avoiding their deportation and death at Auschwitz, the largest and deadliest Nazi Camp.”(UXL Biographies). Significantly, this shows how Schindler intelligently used his factory to save Jews in such a clever manner that the Nazis did not question his motives, and believed that Schindler had the Nazis best interests in mind. In that time and place, there was no one cleverer than Schindler, and no one saved as many Jews as he did. When describing how Schindler is remembered it is said, “Oskar Schindler is remembered, as few men have ever been, in the testimony of 1,300 Jewish workers who escaped Poland’s cities of death because Schindler, against every probability, became a possessed man, ready to risk everything in a darling, almost flaunted mission of rescue.”(“A Good Man”). Acting in this manner despite the tremendous risk and low probability of success is the epitome of courage. Schindler’s courage is also evident in that he was not dissuaded by the fact that he was fighting the most powerful people in the world who could take away anything and everything he held dear, including his own life. Schindler’s courage and intelligence gave him the ability to do things that no other man could.

Selflessness was Schindler’s most prominent trait throughout the war. Schindler explains, “I just couldn’t stand by and see people destroyed. I did… what my conscience told me I must do.”(Qtd. In UXL Biographies). Unlike most of Nazi-Germany, Schindler deeply cared about what happened to the Jews, and acted on those feelings. He did not care what would happened to him, or what people would think about him, he did what he felt he had to. When explaining the risks he went through it is said, “No one has been able to adequately explain why such a luxury-loving man risked his life so many times, and spent all of his fortune, in an effort that saved the lives of at least 1,100 Jewish people during World War II.” (UXL Biographies). A businessperson, who spent his entire fortune saving other people, cares about others more than himself. He did not even care if he lost his life; he just wanted to make sure the others were safe. No ordinary man would risk all of his money and his life to save other people; but Oskar Schindler was no man: he was a selfless man.

Schindler with all of his workers (http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Schindler/images/sch020.jpg)

The story of Oskar Schindler inspires others by showing them that some bad choices do not make you a bad person. You can make new choices, and still do great things. When describing Oskar Schindler’s life-style it is said, “Oskar Schindler was the unlikeliest of heroes- indifferent to religion and politics, partial to gambling and drinking, and not averse to skirting the law in his many business ventures. Yet to eleven hundred Jews whose lives he saved during World War II, he was nothing less than a saint.”(World Biography). Schindler did not just give up and get down on himself. When the opportunity arose, Oskar Schindler changed. When describing some of the bad things that happened to Schindler it is said, “In 1939, he was arrested by the Czechs as a spy and condemned to death. However, the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia soon after saved his life.”(World Biography). Even after his release from jail, he did not just go live a quiet life; he went out and took risks that rewarded him with the love and respect of over 1000 Jews. The things he did show that you do not have to let your bad choices define you, and that your legacy can be that of a great man. Oskar Schindler, an unlikely hero, used his intelligence, selflessness, and courage to save over 1000 Jewish people, become a hero, and inspire us to find the hero within ourselves.