Customer Reviews

Where Light and Shadow Meet: A Memoir

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Through print and screen we have learnt how Oskar Schindler, that Sudenten charmer, saved the lives of his Jewish workers in occupied Poland and Czechoslovakia during World War II. What was less recognised is the role in Oskar's activities of his wife, Emilie. She appears of course in Kenneally and Spielberg, but she is a small bit actor, confined to the margins. Now, finally, we hear from Emilie.

In a series of reminiscences, she tells us of her Catholic upbringing in Bohemia and her first meeting with Oskar. Entranced by his "mysterious, undefinable nature", marriage followed soon after. The coupling was not always a happy one though and Emilie says she was aware of her husband's extra-marital wanderings from the early days. Still, she stayed with him. Like other women, she couldn't pull herself away from what she described as Oscar's natural seductiveness.

Emilie's views on Oscar are insightful but the real story is her part in Oskar's acts of deliverance. Most noteworthy was her leadership and devotion to the surviving Jews of Goleschau, who arrived unannounced, emaciated, near death in frozen cattle cars in the middle of the night. In what was already a hellish situation, her quick thinking saved many at a time when Oskar was away on some business trip.

Some will be disappointed by this book's brevity and the narrative is a little disjointed in parts. But we now know more about Oskar's long-suffering wife and her part in the drama. It's well known that in 1967 Yad Vashem recognised Oskar as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. It is less publicised that in 1993 it correctly extended this recognition to Emilie. In the concluding lines to her story she invites us to toast her, as well as her husband. It's now time we did.

The account of the Schindlers is very well known. For this reason, my review intentionally focuses on some little-known information relative to this interesting memoir provided by Oskar Schindler's widow.

Emilie Schindler recounts the challenges her husband faced in keeping his Jewish workers. Yet, all over the Reich, Jews were being spared from death and diverted into forced labor. A few hundred thousand known Jews survived the Nazi period in this manner. This fact contradicts Holocaust-uniqueness proponents, who had argued that ALL Jews were targeted for extermination, and, moreover, that practical matters were invariably shunted aside in the effort to locate and kill every possible Jew. The Schindlers' experience exemplifies the fact that the Germans were willing to spare some Jews provided that they would be useful to the Reich. And, with few exceptions, these Jewish forced laborers were not killed in the final hours of the war. Finally, the Schindlers' experience shows that the Germans WERE willing to let practical matters (namely the need for forced laborers) to get in the way of killing as many Jews as possible.

Emilie Schindler believes that Erwin Rommel, the Desert Fox, did not commit suicide. She believes that he was kidnapped from his home and forced to swallow poison (p. 95).

It is interesting to note that Oskar Schindler spoke Polish quite well (p. 49). Moreover, he had been involved in anti-Polish intelligence before the war. It also turns out that he was involved in the action of procuring Polish army uniforms for German intelligence (p. 32). These were later used in the German propaganda stunt in which "Polish" soldiers attacked the Germans, giving the latter a pretext for launching their war of aggression against Poland.

Emilie Schindler (p. 43) informs the reader that Polish forces were able to resist the German invaders for only 8 days. This is manifestly incorrect. Regular Polish forces fought both the invading Germans and Russians for 35 days. Then Polish guerilla warfare began and never stopped during the entire German occupation of Poland.

Very few non-Poles realize the fact that, as a final act of cultural genocide, the Germans planned to blow up the cultural cities of Krakow (Cracow) and Czestochowa (Tschenstochau). Emilie Schindler mentions the former (p. 50). Only the speedy arrival of the Red Army (and, not mentioned, Polish guerilla resistance) prevented this from happening. (I myself visited Krakow and saw the holes that the Germans had cut into the foundations of the historical buildings. These holes were to be filled with explosive charges. After the war, the holes were left unfilled as a testimony to German barbarism).

The Schindlers apparently had some sympathy for Poles. Emilie Schindler recounts an experience (pp. 58-59) during which she expressed anger and defiance to an SS man, whose dog had just bitten a Polish woman. In the plant at Brunnlitz, Oskar Schindler had not only Jewish forced laborers, but also Czech and Polish forced laborers. Owing to the shortage of food rations, Oskar Schindler always saw to it that the Jewish forced laborers were given more food, as they were forced to do heavier work (p. 85).

Ever since I saw Schindlers List I wanted to know more. This story draws you in and makes the reader think he/she is experiancing what the people in the story are. Truly a wonderful book.

This is a terrifoc book. It really gives insight into what happened with Oskar Schindler, and his wife. Great addition if you are a fan of Schindler's List, which seems not to credit Emilie fairly fpr all she did as well as Oskar. Awesome. Very informatibe - I could not put it down!

Emilie was the real strength of conviction behind the otherwise boorish, womanizing Oskar. This memoir / biography provides an amazing view of Oskar and his many corpulent weaknesses. One wonders if all those people would have been saved if their fates had been left to Oskar alone. The book itself is well-written and perhaps subject to some literary critique since Emilie never proclaimed to be a writer. That said, I found little to be critical of in her style and delivery. Highly recommend this insightful, historical book.

With all due respect to Mrs. Schindler, who certainly has had her share of hardships in her life, this book is really pathetic. It seems to be a poorly written essay on "Why I should be called a saint". (Despite her disclaimer that she does not consider her husband or herself heroes.) The tone is flat, petty, childish, curiously voiceless. Other than a string of infantile reminiscences of how she supposedly verbally stood up to the Nazis, her only other point is to try to impress the reader with what a dissolute rakehell her husband was. The movie "Schindler's List" did NOT portray her husband as a god; quite the contrary in my opinion. It showed him to be the complex character that he was. Perhaps her pique stems from the fact that Emilie Schindler's character was almost absent from that movie. All right, Mrs. Schindler, by list survivor accounts, did indeed help her husband take care of "his Jews". But don't waste your time or money on this book. There are scores of other memoirs and even fiction that are much more enlightening. Read "The Cap" by Roman Frister, or "The Reader" by Bernhard Schlink. Or read "Schindler's Legacy", a compilation of first-person "Schindlerjuden" testimonies.

As a fan and avid reader of anything relating to WWII and the Holocaust, I was looking forward to reading this book. The only thing I knew about the Schindlers was from seeing the Speilberg movie, so I thought reading about their experience firsthand would be insightful and rewarding. In her introduction, Emilie states that her husband was not a hero and neither was she. This isn't a statement trying to discredit their actions, but rather an attitude that is commonplace among WWII survivors. Any soldier who receives a medal will tell you that he isn't a hero. The heroes are always described as those who gave their lives.

Emilie Schindler begins her very brief memoir with scattered stories, remembrances and incidences from her childhood that are meant to show us at once how inquisitive and stubborn she was, qualities that later served her during WWII. Her memories seem scattered here and there, with no focus, until she meets Oskar Schindler and marries him shortly thereafter. As she talks about their experience working as spies, she also highlights and rehashes Oskar's numerous affairs, some with acquaintances and the approval of mutual acquaintances. From the movie, we know that Oskar was not a faithful husband, but the trouble with Emilie's tirade is that she claims not to be angry at her husband. If she isn't angry, why is nearly a quarter of the memories about her husband's infidelities? And if she was so hurt by his actions, why did she stay with him? She talks about his mysterious and seductive nature that made women pursue him instead of vice versa, but there's no concrete reason to support both her anger at him and her staying with him. Even the words she claims to have uttered at his graveside for filming the Speilberg movie, seem hollow and untrue when viewed with what she has written previously. If she has forgiven him for his infidelities and leaving her, it certainly doesn't show in her scrambled prose. And the final lesson of the prologue that we are to "love one another" is almost laughable after her tirade against her husband.

I'm not trying to say that Emilie Schindler didn't love her husband, or that she doesn't deserve credit for her role in the so-called "Schindler's List", because the truth of the matter is that her and her husband saved over a thousand Jews. And without her help, Oskar Schindler most likely would not have succeeded. However, as inspiring as their story is, and could have been portrayed, this memoir is a bitter rant in disguise.

With my interest in World War II and the Holocaust, I eagerly anticipated reading this book as a supplementary material to "Schindler's List" the movie and my other books on the subject. While the book has its moments, it is very uneven. It almost seems that Emilie Schindler wrote this book to spite her husband and take some credit for his work. While I am sure she deserves more credit than she receives, the tone of the book almost seems bitter.

The book is short in length, almost too short for a memoir. Emilie Schindler gives a summary of her life at each stage. I felt that she had so much more to say at times, but held back. Particularly, the events involving protecting Jews during the Holocaust is far too brief. Mrs. Schindler spends more time talking about irresponsible behavior and infidelity in her marriage than I cared to read. Since the book was released shortly after the movie was released, it seems she is trying to discredit her husband.

Emilie Schindler does give some valuable insights into her life and her late husband's life that may not have been written before. For example, little has been written of their plight after the war. Before this book, little has been said about how Oskar left his wife after the living with her in Argentina for several years. Also, Mrs. Schindler points out some of the flaws in the movie "Schindler's List" while still acknowledging it was a good film.

What ruined this book for me was the bitter tone Emilie Schindler sets. I would rather focus on Oskar Schindler's great work than his flaws.

I have been billed for this book, but still have never received it. I am still awaiting it and am disappointed.