"Schindler's List" and Where It Began

Today we leave Krakow.  At 10pm we will board an overnight train to Prague.  We checked out of the hostel.  Stored our luggage with them.  And we are off to see the Jewish Quarter and Schindler's Factory.

A must see is the movie "Schindler's List" with Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes.  It came out in 1993, and it is excellent.

Important to see to relate and understand this particular blog.

'The Ghetto Heroes Square' is located in the previously known Krakow Jewish Ghetto.  When the Jews were forced out of their home in Krakow, by the Nazis, they were all taken, with what ever they could carry, to live there.  Cramped quarters.  Four families to a flat.  Unsafe conditions.  Many died there of hunger.  And always the worry of what was still to come.

Where 3,000 citizens once lived, the Germans forced more than 20,000 Jews to live there.

The Ghetto was surrounded by a brick wall with only 4 gates with SS Guards for security.

From this ghetto the SS often sent the Jews to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

The memorial consists of seventy empty bronze chairs to represent possessions that were discarded or left behind during the deportation.  A silent reminder of all that the Jews suffered and lost during the Nazi regime.

A very powerful and moving tribute.....

Not far from the Krakow Jewish Ghetto is Schindler's Factory.  Oskar Schindler was a business man. His sole focus was on making a lot of money.  He was also a card carrying member of the Nazi Party.  He may even have been a spy for the Germans.

He ran a factory that produced pots and pans, and later ammunitions about a five minute walk from the ghetto.

He needed staff to work his plant so he hired almost 1000 Jews as they were paid very little and were cheaper labour than the Polish.  At the factory's peak, he had 1,750 workers.  He was making a fortune.

But something happened to him.  He witnesses the liquidation of the Krakow Jewish Ghetto and was so shocked, appalled and horrified at the treatment of the Jews, he began to feel removed from the Nazi beliefs.  As time went on, he began to protect his Jews but he needed to bribe the SS and others to keep them from being deported or executed.

The Nazi in Krakow.  St. Mary's Cathedral during the occupancy of the city of Krakow in 1941, and below, St. Mary's today 2017.

Oskar Schindler witness the liquidation of the ghetto and hated the way the Jews were treated.  He actually let some stay in the factory overnight to protect them from harm during the killing and moving of the Jews to concentration camps.

He manipulated the Nazi in order to save as many Jews as he could.

With bribes and his persuasive ways, Schindler convinced those in charge to allow him to relocate his factory and workers to Czechoslovakia. In 1944, the Jewish Ghetto Police officer, Marcel Goldberg, drew up a list of 1200 Jews including 1000 workers from Schindler's factory which in fact became Schindler's List.  

There were many twists and turns that were or could have been deadly that occurred during the transportation, but in the end, Schindler saved 1200 Jews from certain death.

The Star of David badge was mandatory for every Jew to wear to be readily identified by the Nazi and everyone else.  Deadly penalties were enforced if you were caught not wearing it.  All Jews over the age of 10 were required to wear it over their right upper sleeve of their outer garments.

Pots and more pots in Schindler's office.

"He who saves one life saves the world entire."

Talmud

"And how many worlds did Oskar Schindler save?  If it weren't for him, there would not be me, and there would not be my family either, nor our descendants - my daughter and my two grandchildren, my brother Rysio's two sons, my cousin Olek's children (...) the children and grandchildren of the others saved by Schindler, (...) So how many did he really save then, when he saved 1,200 people?  They are countless..."

Niusia (Bronislawa) Horowitz-Karakulska

He spent his fortune to save 1200 Jews.  

Izaak Stern was a Polish-Israeli Jewish man who was the accountant for Oskar Schindler's factory. He was also saved my Schindler.

He was named 'Righteous Amongst The Nations' by the Israeli government in 1963.

He died October 9th, 1974 and is buried in a Catholic Cemetery on Mount Zion is Jerusalem.

All the Jews Oskar Schindler saved....are pictured here at the end of the Schindler Factory Tour, and many that were still alive in 2007 visiting his grave in Jerusalem.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  Edmund Burke 1968