Oskar Schindler Research Paper

Sean Gaber

4-26-15

Comp I

The Life of Oskar Schindler

Despite the sadness and human loss that the world suffered during World War II and the Holocaust, heroes emerged. One unlikely hero was a man who did not start off knowing or wanting to be a hero. He actually started out the war as a businessman looking to make some easy money. Oskar Schindler started out in a small family with a drinking and womanizing father. Not swaying far from his footsteps, Schindler struggled in his marriage. He was thought of as a womanizer as well. Also similar to his father, he worked as a businessman. From those beginnings one would not think that he would turn out to be not only a hero but also a man who has left a legacy for generations.

Although there

According to the book, Oskar Schindler, in the fall of 1927 Oscar met his future wife, Emilie Pelzl (4). They were married in 1928 (4). Oskar Schindler was not faithful to his wife and was considered a womanizer (4). Although quite similar to his own father, Schindler’s wife had little respect for her father-in-law (4). Schindler even began his career working for his father as a businessman. In fact it was on a business trip with his father that he met Emilie Pelzl (4). He visited Emilie’s fathers farm on one of the business trips with his father (5). Not long after meeting Emilie, Schindler quit working with his father and started at Moravian electric company (7). One of Schindler’s passions was motorcycle racing. He entered his first race in 1928 (6). However, Oskar had to give up racing because he couldn’t afford it (7). Schindler was arrested twice for public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and assault (8). This shows that Schindler followed in his father’s footsteps as a drunk as well. Another example of Schindler following after his father was his affair with Aurelie Schlegel. He had two children with her out of wedlock (9). Schindler later joined the Czech army for 19 months but reported that he enjoyed the sports over being a soldier (7). Schindler was approached to work for Abwehr in 1935(16). Abwehr was

Directly after the war, Schindler was striped of his nationality, which he took great pride in. Trying desperately to find a new place to call home, he applied for entry to the United States. However, according to the article, “Aftermath”, the United States refused him because he had been a member of the Nazi party. He ended up in Buenos Aires in Argentina along with his wife, mistress and other Jews that he recused. He tried and failed as a film producer. He needed support from the Jewish Organization Joint yet still became bankrupt in 1957. At that point he traveled alone to Europe. Due to his indictment of German war criminals, Schindler was hated by many. He had stones thrown at him in the street, was called names, and was an easy target for fights. In October of 1974 he died at age 66 from liver failure. His final request was to be buried in Jerusalem. Schindler had a series of unfortunate events after the