1. Oskar Schindler

2. Life before WWII
Born on April 28, 1908 in Zwittau, which is now located in the modern day Czech Republic.
Schindler was a businessman. He used WWII as an opportunity to make money.

3. During WWII Schindler became a member of the Nazi Party.
He used his charm, black market connections, and influence to become friends with the higher ups in the Nazi Party.
Through his Nazi connections, and motivated by profit, Schindler gained control of an enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland

4. Schindler with Prominent Nazi Officers

5. Schindler’s Enamelware Factory

6. During WWII
Krakow contained one of many Jewish ghettos, which was a small area of town where the Jews were forcibly relocated by the Nazis.
Schindler used Jewish labor from the ghetto because it was the cheapest form of labor available.

7. During WWII - Schindler Helps
For reasons unknown, during this time, Schindler transformed from a Nazi who took advantage - to a protector of his Jewish workers.
His workers were called the Schindlerjuden (a Schindler Jew).
He often referred to them as “my children”

8. Why Schindler Helped…
"I hated the brutality, the sadism, and the insanity of Nazism. I just couldn't stand by and see people destroyed. I did what I could, what I had to do, what my conscience told me I must do. That's all there is to it. Really, nothing more."

9. Measures taken to protect his workers
Bribed guards and Nazi higher ups in order to gain better supplies such as proper food and medicine for his workers.
He lied about workers’ ages and occupations so that they would be deemed necessary to the war effort, and kept in his factory and out of death camps.
Beatings and shooting of his workers were prohibited.

10. Help Continues
In 1943 the ghetto was liquidated and the Jewish residents were transferred to Plazsow, a concentration/work camp.
Through bribes, and his connections with Amon Goeth, the German commander over the camp, Schindler was able to establish a branch of his factory outside of the camp.

11. Schindler the Protector
In 1944, Schindler created his now famous list of workers, and had them transferred to a weapons plant in Czechoslovakia, where they stayed for the remainder of the war.
The plant never made usable weapons
Schindler had spent millions of dollars of his own money to help save his Jewish workers from Hitler’s Final Solution

12. Schindler’s List

13. Schindler’s Effect
Schindler is known as the most famous "Righteous Gentile" who is credited with saving as many as 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust

14. After WWII Schindler fled to Argentina – penniless.
His marriage failed.
He returned to Europe, and the survivors from his factory helped him financially.
He died in 1974 in Germany.
He was proclaimed “righteous” by the Jewish people.
He was eventually laid to rest in Israel at the age of

15. Schindler’s Grave in Israel The Movie SCHINDLER Discussing his factory & his “children”