Oskar Schindler Biography Quotes 3 Report mistakes

Early Life and Family Background
Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908, in Zwittau, Moravia, then part of Austria-Hungary (today Svitavy in the Czech Republic). He grew up in a German-speaking Sudeten family in an industrial region where Czech and German communities lived side by side. His childhood was marked by the upheavals that followed World War I, the formation of Czechoslovakia, and the economic strains that pressed on families and businesses alike. In 1928 he married Emilie Pelzl, who would become his closest partner in both his business ventures and, later, in his efforts to protect workers during the war.

Formation and Early Career
As a young man, Schindler held a variety of jobs, including sales work and positions linked to machinery and commerce. The politics of Central Europe in the 1930s drew him into the orbit of German nationalist movements among Sudeten Germans. On the eve of World War II, he aligned himself with the interests of the German state; accounts describe him as having worked with German intelligence and joining the Nazi Party in 1939. These connections, along with his talent for cultivating officials, would become central to his wartime business career.

Occupation of Poland and Business Ventures
After the German invasion of Poland in 1939, Schindler moved to Krakow, in the General Government, where he took over an enamelware plant that became Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (DEF). The arrangement benefited from the regime's policies that expropriated Jewish-owned enterprises. In practice, the factory's survival depended on the knowledge and networks of Jewish businessmen and professionals. Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant, became a key adviser and administrative partner, helping Schindler navigate permit systems, supply chains, and labor rules. Abraham Bankier, who had been associated with the enamelware concern before Schindler's arrival, also helped secure materials and workers. Initially, employing Jewish workers offered cost advantages. Over time, however, Schindler's motivations changed as he witnessed escalating persecution.

Protector of the Workers
By 1942, 1943, with Krakow's Jews forced into the ghetto and then the Plaszow forced-labor camp, Schindler used bribes, favors, and his social skill to shield his workforce. He dealt frequently with Amon Goeth, the SS commandant of Plaszow, an infamously brutal figure. Schindler's access to Goeth and other officials, combined with his willingness to spend money and goods, meant that many of his employees were kept off transports to death camps. Stern and other office staff quietly assembled documentation that reclassified workers as essential, and Schindler echoed these claims with the swagger of a well-connected industrialist. More than a business strategy, it became a campaign to preserve lives.

The List and the Brunnlitz Factory
In 1944, as the Red Army approached, the Germans began liquidating camps and evacuating factories. Schindler sought permission to relocate his operation and workers to a new armaments facility in Brunnlitz (Brnenec), in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. A list of his workers, prepared with help from Itzhak Stern and others including Mietek Pemper, became the roster of people he intended to save. Approximately 1, 100 to 1, 200 Jews were slated to move. The transfer was perilous: the men's transport passed through the Gross-Rosen camp, and a train of women and girls was sent by mistake to Auschwitz. Schindler intervened, negotiating and bribing to have the women released to Brunnlitz. There, he maintained his labor force under conditions far safer than in nearby camps and ensured that his munitions output did not meaningfully aid the German war effort.

War's End and Immediate Aftermath
As the Third Reich collapsed in spring 1945, Schindler and Emilie organized supplies so their workers could survive until liberation. When the war ended, he fled west to avoid retribution from the new authorities and from Nazis who might have seen him as a traitor to their cause. Survivors from his factory provided testimony on his behalf, helping him navigate de-Nazification proceedings. Many of the people he had protected, later known collectively as the Schindlerjuden, remained in contact with him, writing letters, arranging small stipends, and advocating for him when he struggled to find his footing in peacetime.

Postwar Years and Recognition
Schindler's postwar ventures fared poorly. He and Emilie emigrated to Argentina in 1949 in search of a fresh start, attempting agricultural work that ultimately failed. Financial difficulties and personal strains led to separation; he returned alone to West Germany in the late 1950s, living modestly and often relying on assistance from Jewish organizations and individual survivors. Testimonies by people he had saved were instrumental in securing him modest pensions and honors. Yad Vashem recognized Oskar Schindler as Righteous Among the Nations in 1963, a designation supported by extensive survivor accounts. Emilie Schindler, whose role in caring for workers and sourcing food and medicine had been vital, was later honored for her contribution as well. Oskar Schindler died on October 9, 1974, in Hildesheim, West Germany, and, in a rare tribute, was buried in Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, where many of the survivors and their families paid their respects.

Memory and Legacy
The legacy of Oskar Schindler rests in the lives he saved and the generations that followed. After the war, one of his survivors, Poldek Pfefferberg (Leopold Page), tirelessly recounted the story, eventually inspiring writer Thomas Keneally to publish Schindler's Ark in 1982. The narrative reached a global audience through Steven Spielberg's 1993 film Schindler's List, which drew on survivor testimony, archival research, and the moral complexities of Schindler's transformation. Figures such as Itzhak Stern, Amon Goeth, Abraham Bankier, and Mietek Pemper became familiar to many through these works, contextualizing Schindler's actions within the machinery of occupation and genocide. Today, museums, memorials, and educational programs highlight the case of a flawed businessman who, faced with atrocity, chose to risk his fortune and safety for others. His story endures as evidence that individual decisions, amplified by courage, connections, and persistence, can alter the fate of many, even in the shadow of overwhelming terror.

Our collection contains 3 quotes who is written by Oskar, under the main topics: Human Rights - Kindness.

Other people realated to Oskar: Liam Neeson (Actor), Thomas Keneally (Novelist)