Emilie Schindler

Thomas Keneally’s work of historical fiction and Stephen Spielberg’s film based on the book, both entitled “Schindler’s List”, introduced the world to both a man of extraordinary character as well as the people whom he saved, The Schindler Jews. However, what was not portrayed was the role that Oskar Schindler’s wife Emilie played in keeping 1,200 people alive.

Oskar Schindler was a man of many contradictions, with vices that make a marriage challenging, yet through the challenges and indignities, Emilie stood side by side with Oskar, both committed to maintaining life and human dignity. In her memoirs, Emilie states that the portrayal of Oskar as a “hero” was not true. In fact, she states,

Emilie Schindler, nee Pelzl, was born on October 22, 1907, in a town called Alt Moletein, a German-speaking town in the Sudetenland, an area of Czechoslovakia inhabited by Germans. After many years of schooling in a convent, Emilie enrolled in agricultural school. Unlike the restrictions of the convent, agricultural school was a place where Emilie thrived. It was a place where she made many friends, including a Jewish girl named Rita Gross. Unlike Oskar (Schindler) whose association with Jews was superficial, Rita Gross and Emilie’s friendship was deep and long lasting. The early years of the twentieth century were fraught with anti-Semitism, however these two girls formed a bond that transcended the sentiment that surrounded them. Their friendship lasted until the beginning of World War II, when in 1942 Rita became a victim of Nazi brutality.

Emilie first met Oskar Schindler in 1928, when he approached her home as a traveling salesman selling electric motors. They courted for six weeks and were married on March 6, 1928. Their marriage was difficult right from the beginning, as Oskar’s values and traits were opposite of those held by Emilie. He was a liar, a philanderer, and spent money frivolously, yet he was also was kind, generous and repentant. Oskar eventually bought a large estate in Zwittau, his hometown. At the same time Hitler’s deadly grasp was engulfing Europe.

Throughout the early 1930s Schindler worked as a spy for the German Counterintelligence Committee established in Czechoslovakia. During this time Emilie worked for Oskar as an assistant, quietly watching as officers of the Reich paraded through their home. When Poland was invaded in 1939, business opportunities opened for friends of the Reich as black-market goods flowed and Jewish businesses were stripped from their owners. Given this information by his Nazi cohorts, Schindler left Emilie in Zwittau and made his way to Krakow to take advantage of the disruption of Polish life. Eventually, the opportunity to take control of the Jewish-owned enamel-goods factory presented itself. The factory was located close to the Jewish ghetto making it convenient for Schindler to use Jewish workers as cheap labor.

Krakow became a seat of the Nazi government and their wanton brutality escalated, laying a path for the annihilation of the Jews of Europe. Schindler’s view of his Jewish workers changed as the horror grew. The Jews were no longer just cheap labor, they were people whose lives were being threatened.  At this point Emilie and Oskar decided to risk everything. Their bravery and dedication saved 1,200 people.

The goal was no longer to produce goods for the Reich, it was to save the Jewish people who worked for them, from transport to the death camps. The Schindlers promised that their people would never starve and that the workers would be protected. They gave sanctuary to as many Jewish workers as possible. Oskar insisted that his workers were ‘essential’ and were necessary for the factory to function at maximum capacity. They even built a barracks on the factory grounds to shelter the workers and to ease the misery they experienced at the Plaszow labor camp where they were interned. Life was still filled with suffering, but the workers were no longer hit, murdered, starved, and tortured at the whim of the Gestapo.

The danger to their lives (Emilie and Oskar) was intense. To be successful, Oskar had to employ all the character traits that Emilie found wanting, especially the risk-taking, the gambling, and the lying. The socializing with Nazi officers and the development of personal ties now paid off as much of what he claimed was accepted at face value. Massive bribery and black-market trading were essential to save the lives of these Jews. By the end of the war, the Schindlers spent all their money and traded all of Emilie’s jewelry.

In the spring of 1944, the Russian army was advancing to Poland and Plaszow, located outside of Krakow, was being shut down. A list of people to save was put together and the Schindlers moved their workers to a factory in Brünnlitz, located in Oskar Schindler’s hometown of Zwittau. Although the factory was furnished to be a bullet factory, Emilie states in her memoirs that there was never a single bullet produced.

While Oskar was involved with the daily trials of working with the Nazis while protecting his workers, Emilie took upon herself to feed and attend to the physical care of these people. Like Oskar, Emilie took many risks obtaining food and supplies clandestinely. When the workers arrived in Brünnlitz, Emilie was concerned about the shortage of food. The need drove her to seek out grain from a local mill owned by a local noblewoman named Frau von Daubek. With great fear, Emilie reached out to Frau von Daubek and honestly presented her request and was surprised when von Daubek agreed to donate to Emilie’s cause.

Another opportunity to save people presented itself while her husband was away. She was approached by Nazis transporting Jews by wagon, without food and water, from Goleszow, a sub-camp adjacent to Auschwitz. Goleszow was home to the German Earth and Stone Works and these men were used as forced labor excavating the mine.

After consulting with Oskar who was in Krakow, Emilie made the decision to save these men by claiming they were essential to the war industry and were needed in the factory. Overwhelmed by the extreme distress these people were in, she took on their care immediately, caring for the frozen and starving men. Setting up a makeshift hospital in an empty room at the factory, Emilie was able to provide a warm place to recuperate. Additionally, she provided food, at times hand fed. Many of these men rallied and survived.

The Schindlers also stood up to the Nazi Commandant who wanted to incinerate the corpses found frozen in a boxcar. In a moment of great courage, the Schindlers arranged for their burial with full Jewish religious rites in a plot of land near the Catholic cemetery.

Emilie and Oskar were actively involved with the black market. Oskar would buy or acquire goods and Emilie would trade them for food and supplies. Many of the Jews on ‘Schindler’s list, credited Emilie’s many kindnesses for their survival. In May 1945, Russian troops reached Czechoslovakia and Oskar gathered all the workers together and gave an emotional speech about the workers newfound freedom, and his hope that they would leave without feelings of rancor. Wishing them the best, the Schindlers left ahead of the oncoming military forces.

The decision to act humanely is never easy in the face of great personal danger. Though presented through historical fiction as heroic, Emilie Schindler maintained that their actions were a matter of humanity and compassion, of doing the right thing.

Doing the right thing does not guarantee lasting success. Upon returning the Czechoslovakia, Oskar was arrested for the spying he did for the Reich. Though he did not end up jailed, the arrest itself was stressful. With no money or business to fall back on, life was difficult for the Schindlers. Eventually they moved to Argentina to start a farm. The farm failed and left the couple floundering. Not having a united cause, their marriage was once again hampered by Oskar’s vices. Eventually, Oskar moved back to Berlin, leaving Emilie in Argentina. Never formally divorced, the Schindlers were never together again.

Both face abject poverty and were supported by some of their survivors and by Jewish charily funds, and in Emilie’s case, by donors in Argentina.

Both Oskar and Emilie were recognized as Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in Israel.

Emilie and Oskar Schindler Righteous Among the Nations
Source: Your Tube - Yad Vashem

Additional sources: http://www.emilieschindler.com/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilie_Schindler, WHERE LIGHT AND SHADOW MEET, Emilie Schindler with Erika Rosenberg, Norton and Company, 1996

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We Remember: The Righteous

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We Remember: The Righteous Exhibit Key

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1. Exhibit Entrance

   1. Introduction

   2. Prologue

2. Schindler & White

   1. Righteous Among the Nations

   2. Oskar Schindler

   3. Emilie Schindler

   4. Dr. Alexander White

3. The Quatrevilles & Adelman

   1. The Rescuer

   2. The Quatrevilles & Charolette Adelman

4. Lier & Speyer

   1. The Dutch Resistance

   2. Jantje Spier & Philip Pach Speyer

Argentina: Buenos Aires: Argentina honors Emilie Schindler
Source: You Tube - AP Archive)

Frau Schindler, an opera in three acts by Thomas Morse (2016)

The Opera, set in Nazi-occupied Europe, the piece explores the social and moral dilemmas faced by Oskar Schindler’s wife, Emilie, and her role in their attempts to save the lives of more than a thousand Jewish prisoners-of-war during the Holocaust.

Source: You Tube - Gaertnerplatztheater

CLIKC HERE: Frau Schindler Opera Brochure