Krakow

Schindler's Factory q

“My children are here…..”

Friday, May 26, 2006 - We are still in Krakow. We stopped by the Schindler’s Factory.  Yeah, it is real. It is still standing.  The whole factory was not open, although we were told that it is still being used today.  Today there are more than 7,000 descendants of the Schindler-Jews living in United States and Europe, and many of them in Israel. Before the World War II, the Jewish population of Poland was approximately 3.5 million, and today there are only between 3,000 and 4,000 left.

Brief facts about Oscar Schindler (1908-1974):

From The History Place – The Holocaust Timeline :

“In 1939, Oskar Schindler set up a business in an old enamel works factory in Poland, employing Jews from the Krakow Ghetto as cheap labor. As the Nazis intensified persecution of the Jews, Schindler increasingly feared for the safety of his workers. He managed to convince the Nazis his factory and thus his Jews were vital to the German war effort and prevented their deportation to the death camps of the East.

Following the liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto in March of 1943, his workers were relocated to Plaszow concentration camp, a forced labor center under the brutal command of Kommandant Amon Goeth. Schindler helped his workers to survive their confinement at Plaszow by befriending and bribing Goeth.

Toward the end of 1944, Goeth was ordered to liquidate Plaszow. Schindler saved nearly 1200 Jews from certain death by convincing Goeth to allow him to relocate them to Brunnlitz, Schindler's hometown, where they were eventually liberated by the Soviets. Following the war, Schindler stayed in contact with the Jews and traveled each year to Israel to be honored by them.”

Like what we saw in The Schindler’s List, Oscar Schindler was a true hero to the Jewish community and to the world.  It is true that Schindler was a man who managed to save Jews from being killed during the Holocaust. He saved more than 1,200 people and was named a “Righteous Among the Nations” for helping save 1,200 Jews by having them work in his factory during the war. Criteria for being chosen as a “Righteous Among the Nations,” are: you must not take any money in return for helping that person, you’d have faced a tremendous risk to your own life in helping the Jews, and you did not help that person for your own gain.

Questions emerged for thought-provoking discussion include: Didn’t Schindler employ the workers for his own gain (first as cheap labor, then as forced labor)? Should the Righteous among the Nations recognition be given to someone even if he/she did not meet the criteria but saved the Jews (like Rosalyn’s savior)?

On the website Oskar Schindler: His List of Life, this was said this about Schindler:

“Oscar Schindler spent millions to protect and save his Jews, everything he possessed. He died penniless. But he earned the everlasting gratitude of the Schindler-Jews. Today his name is known as a household word for courage in a world of brutality - a hero who saved hundreds of Jews from Hitler's gas chambers.  Schindler died in Hildesheim in Germany October 9, 1974. He wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. As he said: My children are here…”

I was unable to walk up to the top due to a fall in the bathroom yesterday.  Fortunately, I have my good friends Tiffany W. and Alison Loftis contribute some of the photos that I was unable to capture. The Schindler’s factory was used in the Schindler’s List, if you can recall the stairs where a Jewish girl waited for Mr Schindler in that movie.

Click here for slideshow/more photos on Schindler's factory

Click here for photos of the actual site where one of the scene from the movie Schindler's List was shot (where the little girl came down the stairs and hid under the stairs)

q NEXT: Krakow Trumpet Signal

q Krakow Central Grand Square

or BACK TO: Places we visited/saw in Krakow:

q Krakow city

q Remuh Synagogue and Cemetery

q Isaac Synagogue (Izaaka Synagogue)

Source :

 

Righteous Among the Nations

 

Jewish Virtual Library - Oskar Schindler

 

Oskar Schindler