Oskar Schindler: A Hero Study

CONFLICT AND RELEVANT BACKGROUND Oskar Schindler faced many conflicts in his life. The main conflict he faced was overcoming the Nazis and saving over one thousand Jewish People. Schindler, with out a job at the time, joined the Nazi Party and followed on the heels of the SS when the Germans invaded Poland. This is when Schindler took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products and opened up his own enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. There, he employed mostly Jewish workers, which saved them from being deported to labor camps. Though twice the Gestapo arrested him, he got released because of his many connections and with many bribes. Most importantly, he helped save an entire race of human beings.

CHRONICLER AND MEDIA We know of Oskar Schindler through many different types of the media. We know of him through the television, newspapers, books, and by word of mouth through the Jewish people he had saved. There was even a movie based on Oskar Schindler called Schindler’s List. There are several books about him, many were even written by some of the Jews he saved themselves.

EPIC HERO ELEMENTS IN THE LIFE OF OSCAR SCHINDLER Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 in Zwitlau, which is now part of the present day Czech Republic, to his father and mother, Hans and Louisa Schindler. They were a deeply religious family, which resulted in a strong catholic household for Oskar and his younger sister Elfriede. The Schindler family was one of the richest and most prominent in Zwitlau and elsewhere. Mostly due to the success of their family owned machinery business. Oskar Schindler wasn’t necessarily born of noble birth. He was basically an ordinary guy, especially when his father lost his business, who did extraordinary deeds for people who he has never even met.

One can also see how Schindler was a hero in is character traits. Schindler was always thoughtful and humane in dealing with Jews. He saved the most Jewish people during World War II. The society at that point of time was going downhill and almost came to a big crash. Hitler could have destroyed a whole race of people if it wasn’t for the help of Oskar Schindler. Although he did join the Nazi’s, Schindler still had a heart and a mind to know what Adolf Hitler was doing was wrong and immoral and to try and help save as many Jews as he possibly can. At the end of the war, some Jewish survivors gave him a gold ring in which was inscribed from the Talmud, “Whoever saves a single life, saves the world entire.”

Additionally, Schindler performed a very courageous deed that reflected the value of the era. He saved over one thousand Jewish people from going to labor or death camps. He risked his life for people he has never even met. Schindler received word that a train of evacuated Jews from Golezow camp was stranded in the nearby city of Svitavy. As he has done twice before, Schindler pulled some strings at the top and got permission from German officials to take his workers to the nearby station to rescue the stranded. Once at the station, they forced the doors open to the rail car and saved about one hundred half frozen Jews and did their best to nurse the ill back to health, and those who did not survive received a proper Jewish burial.

Also, the actions of Oskar Schindler determined the fate of the Jewish. He set up his own enamel factory and employed a little under one thousand Jews. Schindler again pulled some strings and opened a new factory in a new location making defective bullets for German guns. “Beyond this day, no thinking person could fail to see what would happen,” Schindler said. “I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system.” That is exactly what Schindler did too. Though many Jews died because of the holocaust, Schindler did save over one thousand Jews from death, which practically saved an entire race from becoming extinct.

In addition, the setting is very vast which involved the whole world. Adolf Hitler was trying to totally wipe out the Jews, disabled, mentally ill, the homosexuals, gypsy’s and everyone else on this earth who wasn’t his Aryan race, meaning not blonde haired and blue eyed. If it wasn’t for the allied forces, and Schindler himself, Hitler just might have actually achieved his goal.

Generally, an epic hero reflects timeless values, such as courage and honor. One can see how Oskar Schindler meets this characteristic in several ways. He knew he could be put to death for doing what he was doing, but he did it anyway. In his factory, everyone was fed, no one was beaten, and no one was killed, unlike the labor camps. Schindler spent every penny he had bribing and paying off Nazi officials to protect and save his Jewish workers.

Further more, there is a universal theme, such as good and evil. The good would definitely be Oskar Schindler who helped the Jewish people and didn’t need, nor want any type of reward for it. The evil side would be Adolf Hitler who was trying to kill an entire race just because of their religion, believing that they were the evil ones. He only thought this way because he was ignorant of the Jewish religion, and other types of people, and therefore feared them, which caused him to hate and want to kill them all. At the end though, as it is most commonly believed to be the evil should die and the good should live. Though most of the Jews died, a few thousand still lived while the evil side, Adolf Hitler, died by committing suicide.

DEATH OF OSKAR SCHINDLER Oskar Schindler died in October 1974, and is buried in the Latin cemetery on Mount Zion, Jerusalem. Over one thousand Jews owe their lives to this singular man. On his grave, there lie many stones, each from many Jews who he saved and many other Jews who think of him as hero. I do not know he died how he died exactly but it is basically from natural causes. Schindler is still adored as a hero from many of the Jewish people.