Incredible facts
Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who is best known for saving the lives of more than 1,200 Jews during World War II by hiring them at his factory.
Oscar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908. In 1938, he was arrested for espionage and sentenced to death but was released. During the war, he obtained rights to an enamel factory in Krakow, and as persecution of Jews increased, he began hiring them to his factory to protect them.
In this article, you'll find facts about this amazing man who saved more than a thousand innocent lives.
Oscar Schindler
1.Oscar Schindler was born into a wealthy family of entrepreneurs. He was inspired by their success and became a businessman.
2.Oscar Schindler originally hired Jewish workers at the factory because Jews were considered cheap labor. Over time, he began hiring even unqualified Jews to protect them from being killed and tortured in Nazi-run concentration camps.
3. Oscar Schindler had to bribe many Nazi officials to ensure the safety of his Jewish workers.
4. Oscar Schindler paid millions of dollars to Hitler and German officials to save the lives of his Jewish workers. He eventually went bankrupt trying to save as many people as he could.
5.It is estimated that Oscar Schindler saved about 1,200 Jews during World War II.
6.Oscar Schindler was originally a supporter of discrimination against Jews by the Nazi Party for economic reasons, but over time he learned what the Nazis did to them in the death camps. He realized he needed to try to save as many Jewish souls as he could.
7. One day, about 300 women workers from the factory were accidentally sent to Auschwitz (concentration camp), but were fortunately returned safely thanks to the quick response of Schindler and his ability to act in critical situations.
8. Oscar Schindler was arrested three times. He was once arrested for kissing a Jewish girl. This was a violation of the Nuremberg Laws imposed by the Nazis.
9. Oscar Schindler was also arrested for working on the black market and for embezzling money too much.
Read also: World War II: rare historical photos
Schindler's list
10.Oscar Schindler created several lists (seven in total) that included the names of more than 1,000 Jews. The people on these lists were saved by Oscar because he claimed he needed them to work at the factory. The plant produced goods considered vital to the Nazi military.
11. The first two lists were the basis for the Hollywood movie Schindler's List. These first two lists are called Lists of Life.
12.Steven Spielberg believed that the story of Schindler's List was too serious to demand a financial reward for its film adaptation, and that it would be “blood money”, so he did not receive any salaries for your film. The proceeds were used to create the Shoah Foundation, which collected interviews and personal reports from Holocaust survivors to commemorate the suffering of the Jewish people.
13.When the Holocaust ended, some Jewish workers at the factory made a gold ring made from a dental implant from a prisoner.
14. In later years, after declaring bankruptcy, Schindler lived on donations from some Jewish people he saved.
15.In 2012, it was reported that more than 8,000 descendants of Schindler Jews (Jews saved by Oscar Schindler) live in the US and Europe, and many in Israel. Before World War II, Poland's Jewish population was 3.5 million. Today, there are between 10,000 and 15,000 people left.
16.Oscar Schindler died on October 9, 1974. He is buried in Jerusalem on Mount Zion.
I would also like to add a little bit about the film Schindler's List itself. This film won numerous awards and accurately captured the suffering of the Jewish people. It can be called one of the most difficult films of our time, and after watching it, you will be horrified at what a person can descend to.