Oskar Schindler
...rs, millions of Jews died in Polish camps like Treblinka and Auschwitz, but Schindler`s Jews miraculously survived, to their own surprise, in Plaszow right up to 1944. Schindler had no illusions as to what that would entail. Until the liberation of spring, 1945, Oskar Schindler used all means at his disposal to ensure the safety of his Schindler-Jews. Here Emilie Schindler looked after the sick. Later accounts have revealed that Schindler spent something like 4 million German marks keeping his Jews out of the death camps - an enormous sum of money for those times. Even though the Schindlers had had a large mansion placed at their disposal close to the factory, Oskar Schindler understood the fear which his Jews had of nocturnal visits from the SS. As in Plaszow, Schindler did not spent one single night outside the little office in the factory. My children, you are saved. Germany has lost the war." At five after midnight - certain that his Jews finally were out of danger - Oscar Schindler left the factory. "I must leave now", Schindler said, "Auf Wiedersehen". Oscar Schindler and 1200 Schindler-Jews along with him had survived the horrors of the Holocaust ... Poldek Pfefferberg, the Schindler Jew who helped Oscar Schindler procure black-market items to bribe Nazi officers with during the war, later told he promised Schindler to tell his story:"You protect us, you save us, you feed us - we survived the Holocaust, the tragedy, the hardship, the sickness, the beatings, the killings! Schindler`s life after the war was a long series of failures. Schindler`s clear indictment of German war criminals in the trials after the war nourished the hatred that many in Germany felt for him. Oscar Schindler was honoured and revered everywhere by his Jews. Oscar Schindler died of liver failure in Frankfurt on the 9th of October, 1974, at an age of 66. Schindler - to be honest not one of the most devout sons of the church - was buried in the Catholic churchyard on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, in the presence of hundreds of weeping Schindler Jews. Oscar Schindler does not exactly fit the description of guardian angel very well! Oscar Schindler was a sentimentalist who loved the simplicity of doing well. The unlikeliest of all role models who started by earning millions as a war profiteer and ended by spending his last pfennig and risking his life to save his 1300 Schindler Jews. Oscar Schindler not only saved their lives - he saved our faith in humanity ...In his acclaimed international bestseller Schindler's Ark, the author Thomas Keneally tells us, that one of the most common sentiments of the Schindlerjews is still:"I don't know why he did it ..." Keneally drops a hint in his description of Oscar Schindler's childhood, a strong Catholic household and deeply religious parents. A decade before Schindler's List made it to the top of Hollywood's A-list Jon Blair, producer and director, made Schindler, an 80-minute documentary for Britain's Thames Television about Oscar Schindler's life. Irving Glovin, Schindler's attorney and friend, met Oscar in 1963 and bought the rights to the story and film in 1980. Schindler's wife, Emilie Schindler, recalls Oscar this way in A Memoir Where Light and Shadow Meet:” In spite of his flaws, Oscar had a big heart and was always ready to help whoever was in need. A Schindler survivor, Murray Pantirer, set up a construction firm after the war and has by now dedicated 25 streets in New Jersey to Oscar Schindler's memory. What prompted Schindler to act as he did, at tremendous risk to himself ? Oscar Schindler was isolated and rejected by his fellow citizens after World War II. Schindler replied, "I knew the people who worked for me. Schindler answered, "There was no choice. Helen Beck, a Schindler survivor, recalls:"We gave up many times, but he always lifted our spirits ... Schindler tried to help people however he could. I would not be alive today if it wasn't for Oscar Schindler. "I thank God for Oscar Schindler. As an 11-year-old boy, Zev Kedem was another Schindlerjew, wh...