Oscar Schindler: The One the Only
... to his alcoholic and womanizing ways. Oscar and Emilie did not have children, but Schindler had two out of their marriage. In 1935, only 12 years after Oscar and Emilie were married the family business went bankrupt do to the great depression. Schindler’s father than abandoned his wife, and she died soon after. With the family business shot down, Schindler became a salesman for another machinery company, this job took him to near Poland, and was forced to leave Emilie. World War I dealt a very harsh blow to the Schindler’s and other families in Zwittau. At the end of this world war, the Empire in which Zwittau was located totally collapsed. However, do to this several new nations were founded. The Schindler family and others families were now the minority group because they were German and the country was dominated by Czechs. It had shocked the Schindler family, it had been as though they had changed lives with another. Oscar was only ten years old during these events. All German minorities in Czechoslovakia were set to limited cultural and political rights by the Prague (Prague is the capital of the Czech Republic) government. The best jobs in the government now went to the Czech but as before the best jobs had gone to the Germans. During the Great Depression, these feeling against the Germans and the Czechs were increased in 1929. On September 30, 1938, Hitler signed the Munich Pact with representatives of England and France. This forced Czechoslovakians to give up the German occupied Sudentenland to the Nazi Germany army. When the German army occupied the Sudentland, the local German public greeted it with delight. The Czechs and the Jews of religion were less enthusiastic, because soon after they were expelled or their possessions confiscated. Schindler quickly joined the Nazi party and began to wear the Nazi patch on his collar. In 1938, Schindler joined the German military intelligence. Schindler was an ideal worker, a man who could strike up a conversation with anyone, preferably in a bar. Schindler then traveled frequently to Poland on business and returned with information about Poland’s military awareness and that they were prepared. It is noteworthy that Schindlers German Military Intelligence membership kept him from active military service. In the morning of September 1, 1939, (1 year after the Munich Pact was signed) the Second World War began with the German attack on Poland. Three and a half million Jews lived in Poland, fully 10% of their population! Krakow was home to 56,000 Jews, a size equal to that of the whole Jewish population of Italy! The majority of the Jews were poor, as were the Poles. However, some of the relatively wealthy Jews gave rise to overview that they were ‘rich’. The Government during WWII was much like that of WWI only much worse. No Jews were aloud to have jobs and it was hard for them to find ways to support their families or even themselves. Some say Schindler is a war profiteer, and here are some reasons why. Itzhak Stern introduced Schindler to a group of wealthy Krakow Jews. These Jews had managed to retain their wealth despite the Nazis’ best efforts to get hold of it. With very few options, these Jews invested in Schindlers factory, but with the condition that they could work in the factory and, apparently be prevented the trip to a concentration camp. Schindler who arrived in Krakow a little more than his natural chance and with the Nazi patch on his lapel, had acquired a Jewish factory, Jewish capital, Jewish labor, and Jewish expertise. Schindler was the standard war-profiteer. However, he was able to overlook the inhuman conditions of the Jews under Nazi rule. He was interested in profit, and he was not above exploiting the Jews to an end. Some say Schindler was just trying to be a war-profiteer, and did not realize that he was saving millions of Jews. Some say that he was a war hero here is why. The saving of the first Jews began in 1939, when Schindler came to Krakow. Schindler took over two previously owned factories that dealt with manufacture and sales of kitche...