Oskar Schindler

1908-04-28 – 1974-10-09

German industrialist who saved over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust.

holocaustrescuerrighteous

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who became an unlikely hero during the Holocaust. Initially motivated by profit, Schindler employed Jewish workers in his enamelware and ammunition factories in occupied Poland. As he witnessed the brutal treatment and murder of Jews, he began using his factories as a shield to protect his workers from deportation to death camps. He spent his entire fortune bribing Nazi officials and buying supplies to keep his workers alive. By the war's end, Schindler had saved the lives of more than 1,200 Jews. His story was told in the 1993 Steven Spielberg film "Schindler's List." He is honored as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial.