Schindler

Born on April 28, 1908, in Svitavy, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic), Oskar Schindler grew up in a middle-class family. His father, Johann Schindler, was a farmer and an official in the local Catholic church. Oskar was the second of three children, and his family was considered to be of modest means.

His initial goal was purely mercenary: to make a fortune using cheap, unpaid Jewish labor from the nearby Kraków Ghetto. He saw the Jews not as people, but as a resource—a source of workers to fuel his factory’s production of mess kits and, later, munitions for the German war effort. At this stage, Schindler was the embodiment of a war profiteer, exploiting the Nazi regime's brutal machinery for personal gain. schindler

As the Allies advanced on Germany, Schindler knew that his Jewish employees were in grave danger. In 1944, he was informed that the Nazis planned to liquidate the Krakow ghetto and send the remaining Jews to Auschwitz. Born on April 28, 1908, in Svitavy, Austria-Hungary

However, it was during this period that Schindler's transformation from a self-interested entrepreneur to a humanitarian began. He witnessed firsthand the brutal treatment of Jews by the Nazis, including the forced labor camps and ghettos. Schindler was particularly moved by the plight of the Jews who were being sent to the nearby Plaszow concentration camp. His initial goal was purely mercenary: to make

As he prepared to leave, the Jews he saved presented him with a gold ring, engraved with a line from the Talmud: "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire." Overcome with emotion, Schindler looked at his car and his Nazi lapel pin and sobbed, "I could have done more." He felt he had failed by not selling the car or the pin to save even a few more lives.