By Elliott West
“He was sent by God to take care of us”.
Rena Finder
Introduction
One of the most horrific crimes to society in the twentieth century has to be the brutal genocide by the Nazi regime of six million Jews during the Second World War, a plan that Adolf Hitler labelled ‘The Final Solution’. Sent to various forced labour camps across Europe via cattle train, many would not return, dying in gas chambers, shot or dying from starvation. This was cold-blooded murder, the most heinous and vile crime that wiped out thousands of innocent men, women and children in camps such as Auschwitz and Berger-Belsen. Yet out of this horror, came an act of selfless compassion by a businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved more than 1,000 Jews by finding them work in his ammunition and enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland. An idea that was given to him by his Jewish-Polish former factory co-owner Abraham Bankier.
Shindler’s humane act was not entirely selfless. His constant fear was that he would get drafted into the military and was scared of losing the lavish lifestyle that he was accustomed to. Bankier persuaded him that he would make more money setting up a factory, using Jewish workers, a cheaper option than Polish workers who were not Jewish. Yet Oskar’s heart melted when he began to work with these inspirational men and women who treated them as human beings rather than inhumanely as the Nazis had done. A group of people that became his adopted family.
A Marked Difference
When the factory first opened, Shindler’s workforce was marched by Nazi guards from their concentration camp, Plaszów to the factory and then back again late at night. However, Oskar devised a plan, persuading the regime that he could build a sub-camp within the factory walls, selling the plan as a means to be able to work them harder if on site. The underlying reason was of course that her wanted to give them a better quality of life. A plan that came into effect in 1943.
As a result of his actions, men and women were no longer segregated and they were given better food with SS guards not being allowed into the camp, having to observe the sub-camp from watchtowers. No longer did they fear having to go into the clinic when they were sick. In Plaszów they would have been shot but under Schindler’s watch, they were taken good care of. Oskar way of working meant that he engaged with them, encouraged them and kept them happy and safe at work.
On the Move
As the Russian Red Army advanced in the summer of 1944, so many factory owners who made small armaments for the German army decided to move their premises and Oskar was one of them. Moving to Brünnlitz in October of 1944, a list was created of the 1000 workers, 700 men and 300 women, a list which became known as Schindler’s List. However, it is believed that only a third of this list had actually worked for Oskar before. Unlike the 1993 Steven Speilberg film, these 1000 didn’t actually go straight to the new factory. Instead, they were inspected with the men being sent to the Gross-Rosen camp and the women to Auschwitz. As a result, some of the women got lost in the process. Unlike the film, Schindler sent his secretary to retrieve them as Schindler was in prison at the time for bribing a Commondant.Their arrival is shown in a personal harrowing account.
“When we got to Auschwitz, we were so thirsty. We tried to catch the snowflakes. But it was not snow falling; it was ashes. Then we were told to undress for an inspection. I remember, after they shaved my head, we were put in dark room and cold water came down. We were completely naked, and I remember looking at my mom and I couldn’t recognize her. I said, ‘Now we won’t suffer anymore because we are dead already.’ She said, ‘We are not dead. We are alive.’”
Witness
Schindler is thought to have saved 1,098 people by keeping his factory open and it closed its doors for good when the Germans surrendered in May 1945. With the money that he acquired during the war, he bought 18 truckloads of wool, khaki material, shoes and leather. He then gave these to his workers, saying “This is your money”. After the war, it was Oskar who fell on hard times with a string of business failures. It was his former Jewish workers that would help him. Schindler died in Frankfurt in 1974 at the age of 64.
