Oskar Schindler

Heroes are people you can look up to and can count on, and for many Jews, this man was their hero. His name was Oskar Schindler. Oskar was born on April 28, 1908 in Zwitlau, an area that is now part of the Czech Republic. He and his parents and younger sister were very passionate about their catholic faith. His family was very rich. One of the richest in Zwitlau. Oskars family owned a machinery business which made the Schindler families wealth.

When he was nineteen, he married a girl named Emily Pelzl. Since Oskar was young, he always liked to take risks and gamble. Either he won big, or he lost big. He abused alcohol as well. He did not stick with his family's business and it later went bankrupt. As World War n began, he became a machinery salesman in Poland. He became very well in touch with the German generals, which helped him later in life. When in Krakow, Poland he opened a small enamel shop. Krakow was near a large Jewish ghetto. Here, he employed workers for his shop. Most of the Jews did not have work forms and those Jews were sent to the concentration camps; torturous areas where large groups of Jews were held. A "work form" is a document that tells what a person's abilities are and tells what the person knows how to do in terms of work. Oskar later found out that the Krakow Jews who did not have work forms and were no use to factories were being sent to those harsh concentration camps. At first, all Oskar Schindler wanted to do was make money, but then he realized how terrible the Jews were being treated. That is when his priorities changed.

He made fake work forms for the Jews who were registering for either work or to be sent away to the concentration camps. In this way, the Jews could be employed by Schindler. This is one of the many ways that Oskar Schindler helped save many Jews from the brutal camps. This is also the time that knowing the German generals and haying close relationships with them came in handy. Oskar was able to set up agreements with them by "earning brownie points." His objective was to get as many Jews as possible out of the concentration camps without the German generals knowing he was doing so. He would send rare wines and the finest cheeses and chocolates to try to "smuggle" Jews in exchange for the fine gifts: Luckily, it worked. He sent these gifts to all of the German generals he knew who operated concentration camps.

When he met with one of the generals at a party he was throwing, they talked about "power." Oskar Schindler's definition of power was to "have the ability to pardon your enemies." The general thought differently. He thought that the definition of power was "to be able to have complete control over anyone and anything you want to." Now I don't know about you, but to me I really think Oskar's definition was a whole lot better. As the war raged on, so did the Holocaust but Oskar Schindler still imported as many Jews as he could to work in the factories. Oskar was still very rich and prosperous at this time. But his goals changed dramatically. He was now so desperate to save the Jews that he took every penny of his money and bought a whole concentration camp full of people! The general he bought them from was so overwhelmed with all of the money that he still had no clue what Oskar was trying to do. The general sold Oskar the Jews. The thing that upsets me the most is how people could put a price on other people. That just shocks me!

It took a few days to get everyone Oskar purchased to his new factory. They shipped the Jews by train. As any factory that used Jews for labor, there had to be German guards. He had a meeting with the guards and specifically told them that they were never to go into the factory and were never to hurt any workers. The amazing transfer from the camp to the factory was a success. The Jews in the factory made bullet rounds and other needed supplies for the German army. Little did they know that the product they were making was faulty. Oskar Schindler made sure that any bullet, ammunition, etc. was never able to be fired in combat. There were many complaint letters from the army and demands for refunds. This made Oskar's business go bankrupt. Later, the war ended and all Nazis, concentration camp runners and business men that used Jews as labor, were going to be hunted down. This meant that Oskar Schindler had to go to jailor even worse, even though he was the one that helped rescue the Jews. The Jews, knowing that, wrote up a document to show all the good work he did for them. All 1000+ workers signed that document. They even made him a gold ring from the gold fillings extracted from the Jews' teeth.