Schindler's List by Thomas Kenealy

Summary:

Schindler'€™s List

Oskar Schindler was born in 1908 in a small industrial town of Zwittau in the Sudetan region. His father owned a farm machinery plant and so Oskar was trained to be an engineer. He was raised as a Catholic but was never that religious, he even played with his Jewish neighbors as a child. After working as a sales manager at an electricity company, he then joined the Nazi party.

September 1939 was when everything began; German forces defeated the Polish Army in just 2 weeks. Jews were ordered to register all members of family and relocate to major cities, more than 10,000 Jews from the countryside arrived in Krakow daily. Oskar came to Krakow with nothing but that all changed. The Judenrat was known, as the Jewish Council comprised of 24 elected Jews personally responsive for carrying out the orders of regime in Krakow, such as drawing up lists for work details, food, and housing. Schindler obtained contracts through the Nazi connections, which brought him huge profits. Working through the Nazis he learned how to manipulate to his own good fortune. He then hired a very smart Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern, to employ Jewish workers from 45 to 250. He helped Jews seem like they are useful and good workers so they can save their lives and work with Oskar. March 20,1941 was the deadline for entering the ghetto which was only 16 blocks. That’s when Oskar built a bankruptcy manufactory company. Then all Jews were to be deported to a concentration camp, liquidation of the ghetto, March 13,1943. Then Schindler goes to complain to Amon Geoth and other Nazis, about his Jewish workers gone, saying that’s nothing but bad business and that they are his. Metal workers factory inside Plaszow forced labor camps. Oskar then celebrated his birthday, which was thrown a party with the Nazi Party, where he kissed a Jewish girl who brought him a cake. He got arrested but let out right away. Chujowa Gorka, April 1944 he wakes up and goes outside and notices its raining ashes everywhere. Department D ordered Geoth to exhume and incinerate the bodies of more than 10,000 Jews killed at Plaszow and Krakow Ghetto Masacre. Prisoners were treated horrible and shot for nothing. They had to carry out dead bodies and throw them into the flames. Schindler gets very angry about all the madness, because he had to get rid of all his workers and Geoth talks about shipping all Jews. Schindler then goes and compromised with the Nazis to buy his Jews back and for good business. Stern and Oskar work together to protect as much Jews as possible. Then his Jews he bought were brought to Zwittau-Brinnlitz, Czech Oslovakia his hometown. But only the boys and men were brought because there was a paperwork mistake. Oskar then found out that all women were taken to Auschwitz. Then The "Final Solution"€ was coming close so he went to the camp and demanded and paid for his women. While the women were saved getting into the train the SS soldiers tried to get all the girls but, that’s when Oskar arrived and told them they are all his and great workers. So he used his wealth to buy over 1,100 workers. For the seven months the factory was fully operational, Schindler’s Brinnlitz munitions factory was a model of non-production. During that time he spent millions of Reichmarks to sustain his workers and bribe Reich officials. Then finally the war was announced over, after 6 long years. And the army was after all Nazis, and he was one but a good one. So his workers made a letter talking about how good of a man he was. He thought he could have saved more Jews and wished he could have, but 1,100 Jews were alive because of him. Later on in his life he didn’t succeed with business or marriage but was appreciated so much by the people he affected. In 1958 he was declared a righteous person and received the honor to grow a tree in the Avenue of righteous. He then died in 1974, and is still remembered today.