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Oskar Schindler: An Unlikely Hero
Before saving the Jews, he only cared about the money
The bravery of Oskar Schindler was brought into the mainstream with the release of Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List in 1993. But due to the three-hour runtime and the disturbing content, this award-winning classic doesn’t appeal to everyone.
However, Schindler’s heroism is certainly something we should all know about, and the following article will give you a solid understanding of this great man’s remarkable story.
Business and Pleasure
Schindler was born in Czechoslovakia (which is now known as the Czech Republic) on the 28th of April 1908. He grew up in an industrial town called Zwittau near the German border.
Zwittau had a large German-speaking population, and Schindler attended German schools throughout his upbringing, developing an interest in engineering and business. But the onslaught of the Great Depression in the early 1930s destroyed Schindler’s business ventures, and matters weren’t helped when his father’s company collapsed in 1935.
When the Germans invaded the Sudetenland (the German-speaking area of Czechoslavakia), Schindler sensed a new financial opportunity and became a spy for Abwehr, the Nazi intelligence-gathering organization. He…
