Protecting the Jews
"Over time, what started out as a business proposition simply became a moral proposition." -David M. Crowe (Student Conducted Interview)
Ghetto Liquidation
In the summer of 1942, Schindler witnessed Jews being herded onto trains bound for certain death. At this moment, he knew he needed to do everything in his power to defeat the system - the system he once exploited to acquire his fortune. He now needed to protect his Jewish workers. Indifferent to their capabilities, Schindler hired more Jewish workers, known as Schindlerjuden or "Schindler's Jews".
On March 13, 1943, the Nazis began deporting Jews from the Krakow ghetto. Jews who were fit for work were sent to the Plaszow concentration camp, while those who were not were sent to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camps to be killed. Because of Schindler's membership in the Nazi Party, he was notified of their actions and instructed his workers to remain in the factory overnight, reducing their risk of being deported to the camps.
PLASZOW CONCENTRATION CAMP A sadistic SS officer, Amon Göth, was the SS commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp. In this camp, inmates constantly feared for their lives and were unknowingly shot. Göth ordered that all factories, including Schindler's, be moved inside his camp. However, Schindler bribed and manipulated Göth to permit him to build a "subcamp" at his Enamelware Factory to house his workers and hundreds of other Jews from nearby factories. There, they were properly fed and housed; they were safe. |
"Now you are finally with me, you are safe now. Don't be afraid of anything. You don't have to worry anymore." |
*Click photos to enlarge and hover to view captions*
rELOCATION to BrünnlitzMietek Pemper, Göth's secretary, notified Schindler of the Nazis' plan to shut down factories not directly associated with the war effort, one of which was Schindler's factory. Pemper recommended to Schindler that the factory's production should be changed from kitchenware to anti-tank grenades so the Schindlerjuden would be safe. Moreover, Schindler persuaded Göth to let him relocate his factory and his workers to Brünnlitz, a village in the Czech Republic. There, the Schindlerjuden would be spared from the horrors of Göth and the Nazi Party.
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Schindler's relocated factory in Brünnlitz
[Seize the Trip] |
"If he had not been a member of the party, if he had not cultivated contacts with officers, and without his relationship to the SS commandant of Plaszow, Amon Göth, he would not have been able to do what he did." -Dr. David Crew (Student Conducted Interview)
Sabrina Antonucci and Nikolas Antonucci
Senior Group Website Word Count (student composed): 1,192 Process Paper Word Count: 500 |
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