# UNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM

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## Schindler, Oskar

Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), a Sudeten German industrialist, established an enamel works outside the Krakow ghetto and protected Jewish workers employed in the enamel works from deportation.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Oskar Schindler, a German Catholic industrialist, moved to Krakow and assumed responsibility for the operation of two formerly Jewish-owned manufacturers of enamel kitchenware. He then established his own enamel works in Zablocie, outside Krakow. That factory became a haven for about 900 Jewish workers, providing them relief from the brutality of the Plaszow labor camp nearby. Schindler protected his Jewish work force by falsifying factory records--ages of employees were changed and professions altered to list trades essential to the war effort.

In October 1944 Schindler was granted permission to relocate his defunct enamelworks to Bruennlitz, Czechoslovakia -- this time as an armaments factory -- and to take with him the Jewish workers from Zablocie. He succeeded in transfering to Bruennlitz approximately 800 Jewish men from the Gross-Rosen camp and 300 Jewish women from Auschwitz, ensuring their humane treatment and ultimately saving their lives.

In 1962, Yad Vashem awarded Schindler the title "Righteous Among the Nations" in recognition of his humanitarian contribution, and in 1993, the United States Holocaust Memorial Council posthumously presented to him the Museum's Medal of Remembrance. This medal, rarely presented, is intended to honor deserving recipients for extraordinary deeds during the Holocaust and in the cause of Remembrance. Emilie Schindler accepted the medal on behalf of her husband at a ceremony in the Museum's Hall of Remembrance.

Schindler died in Germany in October 1974 and was buried in Israel.

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