Oskar Schindler

Preliminary Rough draft.
When Oskar Schindler was asked why he saved over 1,200 Jews, he says “If you saw a dog going to be crushed under a car, wouldn’t you help him”. He went from being a selfish, greedy player to a savior for the Jewish people. In the end, he did what most Germans wouldn’t do, and that’s saving a large portion of a race that was discriminated against during this time.
Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary. He grew up wealthy and happy in one of the worst environments of this time. In the book Oskar Schindler: Righteous Gentile, it reads “He was known as a carefree party lover and future business man” This tells you that the people around him knew he was a handful, but had a great future ahead of him because of his family. As a child to his teenage years, Oskar didn’t really make good decisions mainly because of his wealth. In an article it reads, “He was born catholic, but from an early age je inhabited a world of sin” (Pottinger, article). This tells that he had good teachings but at an early age was exposed to the bad parts of the world.
Oskar had to work many jobs due to the great depression. In an article it says, “never one to miss a chance to make money, he marched into Poland on the heels of the S.S.” (Pottinger, article). This explains that Oskar made money anyway he could, even if it meant illegally. The depression also opened more opportunities for Oskar also. In the article “Oskar Schindler: 1908-1974”, it says “He has presided or the demise of the family business and became a salesman when opportunity came knocking in the guise of the war “. It shows that when Oskar’s family businessman went bankrupt, he became a businessman to make profit off the war. Consequently, Oskar worked a lot of jobs because of the hardships faced during the war.

During the time of Oskar’s life Germany was changing rapidly. In 1933 Hitler and the Nazis came to power and made plans to change Germany. An article says “the Nazis, who came to power in Germany believed that Germans were racially superior and that Jews were deemed inferior, were an Alien threat to the so called German racial community” (U.S. Holocaust museum).When Hitler came into power he had already established his plans to eliminate the Jewish race. The Nazis persecuted not only Jews, but people out of the ordinary too. One article reads” By 1935 Sudeten Germans who wanted to avoid being labeled as communists or social democrats joined the Nazi Sudeten German Party.”(Yourdictionary). The Sudeten Germans would be known as communist, so they joined the Nazi party to avoid death or persecution.
The Germans invaded Poland and started to put Jews in ghettos. “Jews were herded into crowded ghettos, randomly beaten and humiliated, capriciously killed“ (Pottinger, Article). The Germans started to punish the Jews in Krakow. “The Germans decided that, to stay in the ghetto, Jews would have to work. Anyone who didn’t have a job including children and older people had to leave. Eventually, only 15,000 Jews were left. (Roberts, 27). The Germans forced Jews in ghettos to work. Others had to leave or got sent to die.

In 1944 Allies invaded Poland and Germans eventually surrendered. “As the Russian Army approached, Nazis tried to desperately to complete their program of liquidation and sent all remaining Jews to die” (Pottinger, Article). When the Russian army neared the Nazis tried to quickly eliminate the rest of the Jews. The allies were winning the battle against Germany. An article states that “The marches continued until May 7, 1945, the day the German armed forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies” (U.S. Holocaust museum). This says that the Allies marched into Germany and the Germans had no choice but to surrender. Overall, the Germans tortured the Jews and killed many till the allies came.

Oskar Schindler eventually saved up enough money to get a factory known as the Emalia. “Schindler’s Emalia as it was known served as a haven for Jews “. Schindler factory was run by Jews which saved them from death and other disastrous things. Schindler’s main focus was to help the Jews. “In addition to the approximately 1,000 Jewish forced laborers registered as factory workers, Schindler permitted about450 Jews working in other nearby factories to live at Emalia as well “(Crowe). He used the Emalia as a place for the Jews to live till they could be moved.

Schindler had mainly Jews working in his factory. “One of his assistants drew several versions of a list of up to 1200 Jewish prisoners needed to work in the new factory” (Crowe). This helped about 1200 escape from death.