Customer Reviews

Oskar Schindler: Righteous Gentile (Holocaust Biographies)

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This was not a concise biography of Oskar Schindler. Aside from a few pieces of information, the film SCHINDLER'S LIST gave me a better understanding of the man. Like the film, this was mostly about Schindler's heroic saving of Jews during World War II. This book skimmed over his early life and the years after the war which is really what I wanted to be informed about.

I did learn one very interesting fact that I had never read before and that had to do with the beginning of World War II and Germany's invasion of Poland. The author, Jeremy Roberts reports that at one point, Schindler had served as a spy for Germany before the war. Schindler's wife, Emilie said that her husband helped obtain Polish uniforms, which were used by German agents in Poland. In writing about the invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, the author says:

" They came without warning, leading the way for long columns of tanks and men. SS soldiers dressed in Polish uniforms--perhaps based on designs Oskar Schindler had helped to steal--pretended to attack a German radio station. This was used as an excuse for the invasion. Other German soldiers parachuted behind Polish lines, where they helped trick many Poles to their deaths." I found this information amazing and I was disappointed to hear of Schindler's possible involvement. Perhaps saving Jewish lives was part of his atonement for earlier wrongs.