Oskar Schindlers Change of View

Certain people were more suited to helping the Jews during the Holocaust.

People with money, businesses, and a good heart were more likely to help. Oskar

Schindler was one of those people. However, at the beginning of WWII and the

Holocaust, he had exploited the Jews for his own personal monetary gain. But

something happened that had caused him to change his views and decide to save

them. After years of exploiting the Jews in his factory, Oskar Schindler had decided to

change his views and risk everything to save them.

The Holocaust took place during WWII and was the killing of millions of Jews.

Many people were opposed to the killing and liquidation of Jews while others were

supporting it. Oskar Schindler was the in between and had only exploited the Jews for

his enamel business. Schindler was a businessman before the war and before the

Holocaust. He was born in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary, on April 28, 1908 and worked in

sales with his father.He had grown up with two sons of a local rabbi. He had married

Emilie Schindler in 1928 but was never without a mistress or two. (Oskar Schindler)

This would cause him to get into some trouble when he was convicted of kissing a

Jewish girl during the Holocaust. After marrying Emilie Schindler, he left his father's

business and went to work as a sales manager for a Moravian electrical company.

Schindler had joined the Nazi party when they were gaining power, not because he

agreed with them but because it made business sense to go along with the prevailing

wind. (Oskar Schindler 2) Before Schindler had joined the Nazi party, he was a very

unsuccessful businessman. He only became successful when he joined the Nazi party
and had obtained his enamel factory that would create supplies for the war. He had

employed many Jewish workers from the ghetto that was nearby his factory. The factory

was stationed in Krakow, Poland, and he had taken Jewish workers from the Krakow

Ghetto. After establishing the factory, Schindler had made friends with the SS and the

German Army, which had allowed him to easily access the black-market. His dealings in

the black-market would lead to him being arrested by the SS, but he was released

shortly after because of his connections. After the war, Schindler had many failed

business endeavors and had lost all his money he had made from the war. He was

relying on the Jewish Distribution Committee for money and for basic living.

At the start of the war, Oskar Schindler had joined the Nazi Party to boost his

business. With him starting his enamel factory to supply the Nazis certainly didn't help

the Jewish people. When Schindler had opened his factory in Krakow, he did so

because he liked the place, not because he wanted to save the Jews from the

beginning. Once opening his factory, his intern had told him that Krakows Jewish

community was a good source of cheap, reliable labor. (Oskar Schindler) Schindler

had taken Jews from the ghetto only to profit himself as much as he could. Schindler

had also had a co-owner to the factory, who the Jews had feared. He had beaten and

killed many of the Jews in the factory. The co-owner of the factory had thought of the

Jews as non humans and Schindler had let him continue his beating and killing.

Schindlers main reason for the factory at the beginning of the war, was to exploit it and

make as much money that he could.

 During the war, Schindler saw something that had caused him to change his

views on the Jews and on his use of the factory. After he changed his views, everyone

was fed, no-one was beaten, no-one was killed. (Oskar Schindler) Oskar Schindler

had done everything he could to save his Jews. He had joined the Nazi party to make

money, at first, but had used it as a cover up for his Jews when he did everything

possible to the lives of the greatest possible number of Jews. (Letter by Former

Workers) Being in the Nazi party meant that he could have valuable assets in the SS

and the Nazi Army. On many occasions, these assets would save him and many of his

Jews from being jailed or killed. Schindler had saved many of his workers from the

liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. He had bribed some SS officials to acquire some of the

Jews that were being moved to Plaszow. Many of the Jews that he had saved were

excited for being saved and creating the camp for 900 Jewish workers because it

meant that families could stay together. (Oskar Schindler, Letter by Former Workers)

Schindler had used everything in his power to save his Jews. He describes why he

didn't just exploit them saying that when you know people, you have to behave towards

them like human beings. From the beginning, Schindler had treated them as human

beings because he had always lived like that. He never beat or punished any of his

Jews. He fed and clothed them out of his own personal money, which had caused him

the fortune he would have made if he continued to exploit the war. He was always a

good person on the inside. He tells people If you saw a dog going to be crushed under

a car,... wouldnt you help him? (Oskar Schindler) Schindler was no ordinary man. He

made unsafe decisions for himself, but when he saw cruelty, he didnt like it.
(Firsthand Oskar Schindler) There was one moment that Schindler says in one of his

interviews that changed him. It was the summer of 1942 and he had just witnessed a

German raid on a Jewish ghetto. Schindler says that Beyond this day, no thinking

person could fail to see what would happen and I was resolved to do everything in my

power to defeat the system. This is the most crucial moment in Schindlers life. Seeing

innocent people being packed into a trains changed him and he decided to stop

exploiting the Jews in his factory and save them instead.

Years of exploiting the Jews in Schindlers factory led to him changing his views

on people and risking everything to save them. Some people wouldnt save any of the

Jews because of the fear of being killed. Oskar Schindler was not one of them. He

risked everything to save over 1,200 Jews.