Oskar Schindler

1. Oskar Schindler 1908-1974

2. Question • Who was Oskar Schindler? • What did he do to be recognized?

3. Early Life • Born April 28, 1908 in Svitavy, which is now located in the modern day Czech Republic. • Many Jewish Friends

4. As a Young Man • Was a charming playboy. • Liked fast cars and fast women • Womanized, partied, motorcycle races, drank, and gambled • As a businessman, used WWII as an opportunity to make money

5. During WWII • Became a member of the Nazi Party • It was necessary to get government contracts • Believed in their ideology • Used his charm, black market connections, and influence to become friends with the higher ups in the Nazi Party

6. During WWII • Through his Nazi connections, and motivated by profit, Schindler gained control of an enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland

7. During WWII Schindler with Prominent Nazi Officers

8. During WWII Poland

9. During WWII Enamelware

10. During WWII Schindler’s enamelware factory

11. During WWII • Krakow contained one of many Jewish ghettos, which was a small area of town where the Jews were forcibly relocated by the Nazis • Schindler used Jewish labor from the ghetto because it was the cheapest form of labor available

12. During WWII • 1940-800 workers • Good conditions • Extra food • NO SNOW!

13. During WWII • For reasons unknown, during this time, Schindler transformed from a profiteering Nazi, to a protector of his Jewish workers. • His workers were called the Schindlerjuden • He often referred to them as “my children”

14. During WWII • Quotes from Schindler • "I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more."

15. During WWII "The persecution of Jews in the General Government in Polish territory gradually worsened in its cruelty. In 1939 and 1940 they were forced to wear the Star of David and were herded together and confined in ghettos. In 1941 and 1942 this unadulterated sadism was fully revealed. And then a thinking man, who had overcome his inner cowardice, simply had to help. There was no other choice."

16. During WWII • Measures taken to protect his workers • Bribed guards and Nazi higher ups in order to gain provisions such as proper food and medicine • Lied about workers ages and occupations so that they would be deemed necessary to the war effort, and kept in his factory and out of death camps • Beatings and shooting of his workers were prohibited

17. During WWII • In 1943 the ghetto was liquidated and the Jewish residents were transferred to Plazsow, a concentration/work camp. • Through bribes, and his connections with Amon Goeth, the German commander over the camp, Schindler was able to establish a branch of his factory outside of the camp.

18. During WWII • In 1944, Schindler created his now famous list of workers, and had them transferred to a munitions plant in Czechoslovakia, where they stayed for the remainder of the war. • The plant never made usable munitions • Schindler had spent millions of dollars of his own money to help save his Jewish workers from Hitler’s Final Solution

19. Schindler’s List • 1,000 workers on his list were saved from execution

20. After WWII • Schindler fled to Argentina penniless • His marriage failed • He returned to Europe, and the survivors from his factory helped him financially • He died in 1974 in Germany • He was proclaimed “righteous” by the Jewish people • He was eventually laid to rest in Israel

21. Schindler’s Grave

22. The Movie

23. The End