Oskar Schindler

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who is best known for rescuing about 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories.

Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who is best known for rescuing about 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. His wartime actions later became widely known through the novel *Schindler's Ark* and the film *Schindler's List*. He was honoured as a Righteous Among the Nations in 1962.

Early life

Schindler was born in 1908 in Svitavy, then part of Austria-Hungary, and grew up in a German Catholic family. He worked in his father’s farm machinery business before entering other business and intelligence work.

Wartime activities

After the German occupation of Poland, Schindler ran enamelware and later ammunition factories in Kraków and elsewhere. He used his factories to employ Jewish workers and protect them through bribery, false records, and special arrangements.

Rescue of Jews

Schindler’s efforts saved roughly 1,100 to 1,200 Jews from concentration camps and extermination, according to major reference sources. His rescue work became the basis of the later historical and popular account of the Schindlerjuden.

Legacy

Schindler became internationally known through Thomas Keneally’s novel *Schindler's Ark* and Steven Spielberg’s film *Schindler's List*. He has since been recognized as a prominent figure in Holocaust remembrance.