Schlinder's List

"Whoever saves one life saves the entire world." 
(inscription inside ring given to Oskar Schindler)

Schindler's List courtesy www.thejc.com.

One man -- one list -- 1200 names.  "Schindler's List", made into a movie in 1993, is the story of Oskar Schindler who employed many Jews in his factories and whose lives he saved by bribing, cajoling and sweet-talking Nazi officials.  Here is his story.

Oskar Schindler was born into a wealthy business owning family in Zwittau, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now the Czech Republic).  In the 1930's, he became a member of the Nazi Party.  He bought a factory in Krakow, Poland where enamelware was manufactured.  He employed many Jews as they were cheaper labour than Poles.  However, as the rights of Jews were taken away, he started to hide wealthy Jewish investors.

Krakow Factory courtesy upload.wikimedia.org.

In 1942, Schindler witnessed a round up of Jews in the Krakow ghetto in an effort to ship them to a concentration camp in Plaszow.  He was appalled by the murder of many Jews who attempted to hide from the Nazis during the round up.  In the movie, director Steven Spielberg shows Schindler sitting atop a horse on a hill above the ghetto watching the horrific black and white scene, punctuated only by the red coat of a little girl.  

Schindler vowed to save as many Jews as he could, intending on transferring them to safety in his two factories.  Using the black market, he bribed Nazi officials.  In October 1944, a train carrying 700 Schindler Jewish men to Gross Rosen Concentration Camp was re-routed to Brunnlitz, the site of Schindler's factory, only after he sweet-talked officials.  Similarly a trainload of 300 Schindler Jewish women was sent to Auschwitz. After several weeks, Schindler managed to get them transported to Brunnlitz, thanks to his black market food and diamond bribes.

Oskar Schindler (centre) schmoozing Nazi officials courtesy www.ushmm.org.

In May of 1945, Schindler stood with his workers on the factory floor and listened to Churchill's speech announcing victory for the Allies.  The workers gave him a ring, made from the dental work of one of their own, inscribed with the verse:  "Whoever saves one life saves the entire world."  Then Schindler and his wife wife, considered spies by the enemy, escaped by car.  Their vehicle was confiscated by the Russians but they continued their flight by train and by foot to Switzerland.

Schindler saved 1200 Jews.  Although movie offers were discussed in the 1950's and 1960's nothing came of them.  In the 1980's, Australian author Thomas Kenneally wrote a book about the entrepreneur's life called Schindler's Ark, later published in the United States as Schindler's List.  Steven Spielberg acquired the rights to the story and the movie premiered in 1993.  

Schindler spent millions to help the Jews.  He died penniless, but a hero.

Oskar Schindler courtesy http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/schindlers-list.html.

Vernher Von Braun Writes Letter to Rocket Boy

"The first time I every saw Verhner Von Braun was on a black and white television set in my living room in Coalwood, West Virginia, the mining town where I was raised.  He was on the Disneyland show and he was talking with Walt Disney about the possibility of rockets going into space." 

(Homer Hickam Jr.)

It was in 1957 that "Rocket Boy" Homer Hickam first saw the satellite Sputnik arc across the ink- stained October sky, a sight that led to the dream of going to the moon.  But Homer's dream would not be realized as easily as he thought.  His father, the head miner in the town of Coalwood, Virginia, thought that his son should spend his time in the mine shaft, not building rockets that blew up his wife's rose garden fence.  Homer Hickam Sr. was not alone:  most of Coalwood thought the same way http://blog.al.com/huntsville-times-business/2012/03/homer_hickam_wernher_von_braun.html.

It would take a fellow dreamer to launch Homer's dream.  The Rocket Boy's mother spent her spare time painting a mural of Myrtle Beach on their kitchen wall, hoping to trade the black dust of Coalwood for the sea spray of the Atlantic.  When she discovered that her youngest son, Homer, wanted to build rockets for a living, she wrote a letter to his hero, Vernher Von Braun.  

Homer was shocked when he received a letter from the German rocket scientist.  Included with the letter was a photograph autographed by Von Braun.  It was all the inspiration that Homer needed. With the image of the photograph in his head, and the encouragement of his teacher Miss Riley, Homer made a rocket for the state science fair and won.  He brought the same rocket to the national science fair -- and captured first prize again.  

The same boy who blew up his mother's rose garden fence would go on to put a man on the moon only 12 years later as part of the NASA space program.  Hickam just missed meeting his hero, Von Braun, at the national science fair.  The rocket scientist did see Homer's rockets on display and reportedly said that they were "some of the best rockets he'd seen this side of Cape Canaveral".  

For more information:

1.  Read my post  http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/10/october-sky.html.
2.  Watch the movie October Sky (1999).
3.  Read Rocket Boys (1998) by Homer Hickam.

Vernher Von Braun talking to Walt Disney about launching rockets into space on the "Man in Space" episode circa 1950's courtesy http://familypedia.wikia.com/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun_(1912-1977).