He was a member of the Nazi Party, but why did he do it? Why did he spend 4 million German marks keeping his Jews out of the death camps? Why did he risk his life to rescue these Jews?
“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.”
—Oskar Schindler, 1964 interview
In the midst of the Second Great War, he gained ownership from a bankruptcy court of an idle enamelware factory in Krakow. He named it Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik or DEF. With the help of his German-speaking Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, he was able to save 1,200 Jews. Women and children who were about to be suffocated in the gas chambers and men who were about to be labourers and burnt in the massive crematoriums.
Oscar Schindler outwitted Hauptsturmfuhrer Amon Goeth, an SS officer who brutality murdered Jews. He told Goeth that insetad of those people sent to the camp, he would "buy" them to be his laborers in his enamelware factory since according to him, he would not spent that much money to pay them. He bribed him and other officials to save these people.
He realized that if he had thought about saving these people earlier, then he could have saved a thousand more. Oskar spent all his money and possession in "buying" Jewish lives.
Twice he is arrested by the Gestapo - but is released, undoubtedly first and foremost because of his many connections.
He took care of them by spending large amounts of money on buying food for them. In his factory, these people were treated as humans. He abused his power but as soon as he witnessed the inhumane acts, he used his power to save all these people.
In his factory, nobody was hurt. Nobody was murdered because of their identity.
They were protected and saved by Oskar Schindler. In those years, millions of Jews died in the Nazi death camps like Auschwitz, but Schindler's Jews miraculously survived.
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