Schindler is known best for the portrayal of him in Steven Spielberg´s film Schindler´s List, which was, of course, based on Thomas Keneally´s novel of the same name. Schindler was a German who risked his life and his fortune to save 1,100 Jews and provide hundreds of other Jews who worked for him
with a quality of life that enabled many of them to survive the Holocaust. In researching this…mehrSchindler is known best for the portrayal of him in Steven Spielberg´s film Schindler´s List, which was, of course, based on Thomas Keneally´s novel of the same name. Schindler was a German who risked his life and his fortune to save 1,100 Jews and provide hundreds of other Jews who worked for him with a quality of life that enabled many of them to survive the Holocaust. In researching this definitive biography over a seven-year period, Crowe interviewed and corresponded with many of Schindler´s Jews; discovered a vast collection of his private papers and letters; found the Czech secret police and Gestapo files on Schindler documenting his involvement as an operative in Nazi Germany´s military counterespionage organization, Abwehr, before and during World War II; and studied the war crimes file on Amon Goeth, the commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp. Crowe posits that Schindler had nothing to do with the creation of his famous transport lists (one for 700 men and one for 300 women) and then devotes a long chapter on its true origin. Crowe sees that Schindler´s transformation from a greedy factory owner into one of the most remarkable righteous gentiles in the Holocaust took place slowly. "I think that he was, at heart, a fairly decent human being despite his womanizing and heavy drinking," Crowe concludes, and that over time, the growing violence and death that enveloped Krakow´s Jews disgusted him and prompted him to do whatever he could to protect his Jewish workers from the SS. With 32 black-and-white photographs, this biography is essential in understanding one of the most extraordinary figures from the Holocaust.
The first true biography of Oskar Schindler that explores the myths and realities of one of the Holocaust´s most controversial figures. Spy, businessman, bon vivant, Nazi Party member, Righteous Gentile. This was Oskar Schindler, the controversial savior of over 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust who struggled afterwards to rebuild his life and gain international recognition for his wartime deeds. Author David Crowe examines every phase of the subject´s life in this groundbreaking work, presenting a figure of mythic proportions who was also an opportunist and Nazi Party member who helped conquer Poland as a German spy. Schindler is best known for saving 1,200 Jews by putting them on the famed "Schindler´s List" and then transferring them to his factory in today´s Czech Republic. In reality, Schindler had very little to do with the creation of the list. He was forced into exile after the war, with success continually eluding him, and he died in very poor health in 1974. He remained a controversial figure, even in death, particularly after Emilie Schindler, his wife of forty-six years, began to severely criticize her husband after the appearance of Steven Spielberg´s film in 1993.
4 Stars.