Life During War
After Schindler moved to Krakow, he took advantage of the German occupation program, the policy in which German citizens could buy out and "Germanize" businesses taken from Jewish and Polish businessmen/women. That November he met/was introduced to a Polish-Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern, who gave him business advice, such as buying the Enamelware factory instead of leasing it, so that he would have more freedom to do whatever he want with the company. After their consulting, Schindler "bought Rekord Ltd., a Jewish-owned enamelware manufacturer and converted its plant to establish the Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik Oskar Schindler (German Enamelware Factory Oskar Schindler)."
After Schindler moved to Krakow, he took advantage of the German occupation program, the policy in which German citizens could buy out and "Germanize" businesses taken from Jewish and Polish businessmen/women. That November he met/was introduced to a Polish-Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern, who gave him business advice, such as buying the Enamelware factory instead of leasing it, so that he would have more freedom to do whatever he want with the company. After their consulting, Schindler "bought Rekord Ltd., a Jewish-owned enamelware manufacturer and converted its plant to establish the Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik Oskar Schindler (German Enamelware Factory Oskar Schindler)."
This is a picture of Oskar Schindler's first/original
Enamleware factory in a suburb of Krakow, Poland. This is the first Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik factory/subcamp.
Enamleware factory in a suburb of Krakow, Poland. This is the first Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik factory/subcamp.
Besides Emalia, Schindler operated two other companies, Schlomo Wiener Ltd, a wholesale outfit that sold his enamelware, and Prokosziner Glashütte, a glass factory, however after persuaded by Stern he only employed Jewish workers at Emalia from the Krakow Ghetto. Stern ran his Enamelware business and made Schindler rich. Using his connections with his powerful friends and lots of money, Schindler was able to obtain contracts to make enamelware for the German Army. These connections also helped him save his Jewish workers later on. Originally, Schindler was only in it for the money, however after witnessing the brutal liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto to the Plaszow forced labor camp in March 1943, Schindler began to change, he began caring more about his workers and later had one thing on his mind, to protect his workers from harm.
These are the only two images of Itzhak Stern left.
The picture on the right is a picture of Oskar Schindler and Itzhak Stern as they were discussing business plans for Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik.
The picture on the right is a picture of Oskar Schindler and Itzhak Stern as they were discussing business plans for Deutsche Emalwarenfabrik.
Schindler kept his Jewish workers safe in his factory even though they were often brutalized when they went back to Plaszow. He often stood up for his workers when they were beaten and he kept the SS and Gestapo away through bribes and persuasions. On one occasion, the Gestapo came to Schindler's factory and demanded that he hand over a Jewish family with forged papers, Schindler said, "Three hours after they walked in,two drunk Gestapo men reeled out of my office without their prisoners and without the incriminating documents they had demanded." Schindler became friends with Amon Goeth, the SS Officer in-charge of transporting the Jews from the Krakow Ghetto to Plaszow earlier in March. When Plaszow was redesigned into a concentration camp, Schindler persuaded Amon Goeth to help him turn his enamelware factory into a subcamp of Plaszow.
This is an image of Commandant Amon Goeth observing
Plaszow from the balcony of his house that looks over the
entire concentration camp.
Plaszow from the balcony of his house that looks over the
entire concentration camp.
Oskar Schindler brought all 1,000 of his Jewish workers to live at the subcamp and even allowed 450 more Jewish workers from other companies to live at his camp. The SS began getting suspicious, they suspected Schindler of corruption and giving illegal aid to Jews. He was arrested three times while he owned Emalia, twice for black market activities and once for breaking the Nuremberg Laws by kissing a Jewish girl on his biirthday, but the officers were unable to convict him due to his connections with powerful friends. On October 1944, the SS began transferring Jews westward from Emalia towards Auschwitz because the Red Army (Soviet Army) was drawing near all the easterly camps.
These are images of Auschwitz, the largest concentration camp and extermination camp in Poland. This camp was so large that approximately 1 and 6 Jews killed during the Holocaust died at this camp.
These are images of the
construction and the running Schindler's
Emalia factory in Brunnlitz
construction and the running Schindler's
Emalia factory in Brunnlitz
Schindler once again bribed and persuaded SS officers to help him transfer his subcamp to Brunnlitz, Czechoslovakia. Schindler received the approval to build a camp and factory in Brunnlitz. Schindler had to create a list of 1,200 workers that he wanted to take with him. He made a list of 1,200 Jews - 1000 of his own workers and 200 inmates from Juluis Madritsch's textile factory. Shortly after, approximately 800 men and 400 women were shipped in boxcars for Brunnlitz. The men were mistakenly routed to Gross-Rosen concentration camp and the women were mistakenly routed to Auschwitz.
This is an image of the first page of Schindler's
List with the first 56 workers that he's taking with
him to Brunnlitz.
List with the first 56 workers that he's taking with
him to Brunnlitz.
When the workers arrived at Brunnlitz, many of them had gotten sick from the cold winter. Emilie Schindler took care of them for the remainder of the war in a makeshift hospital. Schindler continued to bribe SS officers to keep his workers safe. In the last 7 months, the factory never produced a useful anti-tank shell. Schindler himself sabotaged the production of the shells himself so that they would fail quality-control testing, but when questioned about the poor production, he blamed it on, "start-up difficulties." On May 8, 1945 the war ended. Schindler and his workers gathered to listen to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill announce over radio Germany's surrender. As Schindler was leaving, his workers gave him a letter signed by every worker "stating his good deeds" and they also gave him a gold ring, made from the gold teeth of a worker inscribed in Hebrew with "He who saves one life, it is as if he saved the entire world." Several days later, the workers were liberated by a Russian officer on horseback.