Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List PDF Book

Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List PDF, ePub eBook Kindle

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Author : David M. Crowe
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Spy, businessman, bon vivant, Nazi Party member, Righteous Gentile. This was Oskar Schindler, the controversial man who saved eleven hundred Jews during the Holocaust but struggled afterwards to rebuild his life and gain international recognition for his wartime deeds. David Crowe examines every phase of Schindler's life in this landmark biography, presenting a savior of mythic proportions who was also an opportunist and spy who helped Nazi Germany conquer Poland. Schindler is best known for saving over a thousand Jews by putting them on the famed "Schindler's List" and then transferring them to his factory in today's Czech Republic. In reality, Schindler played only a minor role in the creation of the list through no fault of his own. Plagued by local efforts to stop the movement of Jewish workers from his factory in Kraków to his new one in Brünnlitz, and his arrest by the SS who were investigating corruption charges against the infamous Amon Göth, Schindler had little say or control over his famous "List." The tale of how the "List" was really prepared is one of the most intriguing parts of the Schindler story that Crowe tells here for the first time. Forced into exile after the war, success continually eluded Schindler and he died in very poor health in 1974. He remained a controversial figure, even in death, particularly after Emilie Schindler, his wife of forty-six years, began to criticize her husband after the appearance of Steven Spielberg's film in 1993. In Oskar Schindler, Crowe steps beyondthe mythology that has grown up around the story of Oskar Schindler and looks at the life and work of this man whom one prominent Schindler Jew described as "an extraordinary man in extraordinary times."

Book ID Asin: 081333375X
Book Title: Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List
Book Author: David M. Crowe
Book Format and Price:
Book Format Name: Kindle
Book Format Price: $14.99
Book Format Name: Hardcover
Book Format Price: $21.49
Book Format Name: Paperback
Book Format Price: $89.26
Book Price: unknown
Book Category: Books, History, World and unknown
Book Rating: 99 ratings

Book Product Detail

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Westview Press; 1st edition (October 26, 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 766 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 081333375X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0813333755
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.75 x 9.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #752,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,589 in Jewish Holocaust History
- #2,627 in German History (Books)
- #80,288 in Biographies

Customer Reviews:
99 ratings

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Schindler is known best for the portrayal of him in Steven Spielberg's film Schindler's List, which was, of course, based on Thomas Keneally's novel of the same name. Schindler was a German who risked his life and his fortune to save 1,100 Jews and provide hundreds of other Jews who worked for him with a quality of life that enabled many of them to survive the Holocaust. In researching this definitive biography over a seven-year period, Crowe interviewed and corresponded with many of Schindler's Jews; discovered a vast collection of his private papers and letters; found the Czech secret police and Gestapo files on Schindler documenting his involvement as an operative in Nazi Germany's military counterespionage organization, Abwehr, before and during World War II; and studied the war crimes file on Amon Goeth, the commandant of the Plaszow concentration camp. Crowe posits that Schindler had nothing to do with the creation of his famous transport lists (one for 700 men and one for 300 women) and then devotes a long chapter on its true origin. Crowe sees that Schindler's transformation from a greedy factory owner into one of the most remarkable righteous gentiles in the Holocaust took place slowly. "I think that he was, at heart, a fairly decent human being despite his womanizing and heavy drinking," Crowe concludes, and that over time, the growing violence and death that enveloped Krakow's Jews disgusted him and prompted him to do whatever he could to protect his Jewish workers from the SS. With 32 black-and-white photographs, this biography is essential in understanding one of the most extraordinary figures from the Holocaust. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"A monumental work of scholarship, detailed, informed, precise and measured, the definitive work on this extraordinary man." -- Michael Berenbaum, The University of Judaism Los Angeles, California; Former Director of the Research Institute, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; Former President, Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation; Author, A Promise to Remember

About the Author

David M. Crowe is President Emeritus of the Association for the Study of Nationalities at Columbia University and a member of the Education Committee of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. He is currently a Fellow at the Center for Slavic, Eurasian, and East European Studies at the University of North at Carolina at Chapel Hill. His award-winning books include A History of the Gypsies of Eastern Europe and Russia and The Baltic States and the Great Powers: Foreign Relations, 1938-1940. He teaches at Elon University.

From The Washington Post

David Crowe devoted seven years, conducted scores of interviews and did research on four continents in order to write the definitive biography of Oskar Schindler. That's the good news. The bad news is that this definitive account is buried in a massive text. Crowe would have been served by a good editor, one with a relentless red pencil.

Schindler, a man with many flaws, risked his life and his fortune to save more Jews during the Holocaust than anyone else did. While the young Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg saved a larger number of Jews, he had the assistance of an entire team of people and the financial support of American Jews. In contrast, Schindler had only the assistance of his wife, Emilie. Moreover, Schindler performed his heroic deeds only a short distance from Auschwitz.

Schindler's road to becoming the man who rescued almost 1,100 people was hardly predictable. Born in the Sudetenland, the area of Czechoslovakia that was home to a large German population and on which Hitler had designs, Schindler spied for the Abwehr, the German army's espionage unit. He helped pave the way for Germany's 1939 dismemberment of Czechoslovakia.

Shortly after Germany invaded Poland, Schindler showed up in Krakow with one intention: to make money. He bought a Jewish-owned factory for a small fraction of its original worth and then contracted with the SS for Jewish workers. A lackluster businessman, Schindler let knowledgeable Jews run the factory while he wined, dined and bribed German officials.

How did a man of questionable morals whose fortune was essentially made by stealing from Jews become one of the Holocaust's most-heralded rescuers? The path to Yad Vashem, the Israeli memorial to the Holocaust in Jerusalem, is lined on both sides by trees planted for "Righteous Gentiles," non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust. One can easily spot Schindler's tree because hundreds of thousands of people have worn down the ground around it as they have come to pay homage to this man.

As the Germans moved from ghettoization to murder, Schindler -- revolted by this development -- was transformed from self-interested shady, entrepreneur to fierce defender of his workers. Crowe, a professor at Elon University and the author of a history of the Gypsies, meticulously documents this transformation. Schindler, the former German spy, became a courier for Jewish aid organizations. He helped these organizations supply Jews with money, food and medicine, and transmitted important information about the gassings in Auschwitz.

In contrast to the impression given by Steven Spielberg in "Schindler's List," Crowe discovered that the famous list was not compiled by Schindler but by one of his Jewish administrators, Marcel Goldberg. There is, Crowe reveals, a seamy side to this story. Aware that inclusion on the list could mean the difference between life and death, Jews bribed Goldberg to get themselves on it. In certain cases, entire families were listed, while people of lesser means were dispatched to Auschwitz and other camps.

Schindler did not create the list, but, motivated by a deep sense of compassion for these people and revulsion at the Germans' actions, he did feel responsible for keeping these people alive, particularly during the harrowing final months of the war. When his female workers were transported to Auschwitz, he fought to have them released. As the situation in Krakow deteriorated, he moved his factory to Czechoslovakia. By so doing, he saved the lives of his 1,100 workers. Using his own funds, he kept them relatively well fed and even managed to find medication for them. Emilie played a crucial role during these harrowing winter months. She personally nursed the Jews and, working with her husband, managed to procure desperately needed medical supplies. Many "Schindler Jews" (as Jews rescued by Schindler began to call themselves after the war) credit her with ensuring their survival.

Schindler's saga did not end with Germany's defeat. After the Holocaust, Yad Vashem initially refused to honor him as a Righteous Gentile. How, it wondered, could it balance his membership in the Nazi Party with his efforts to save Jews? Those Jews whose factory he had expropriated protested to Yad Vashem that he acquired the considerable sums he spent to save his workers through the Aryanization of Jewish property and the use of slave labor. They tried to take legal action against him. Other Schindler Jews objected vehemently, arguing that, but for his actions, they would not have survived.

Schindler's postwar business efforts were complete disasters. Without the support he received from a well-respected Jewish aid organization, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, he and Emilie would have been destitute. Many of his supporters were infuriated when he gambled away substantial sums. Others, willing to ignore his personal shortcomings, shrugged it off with "that's Oskar."

This book, despite containing fascinating information, is marred by its completely undisciplined nature. It contains scads of ancillary -- and sometimes hardly even that -- details on an array of other topics. Do we need to know all about films that were not made about Schindler? Does Crowe have to tell us that his interviews with Schindler Jews "touched [him] deeply"? Why does he feel compelled to include not just the life story of a young American GI who helped some Schindler Jews immediately after the war but also what was said about him at the time of his death? Moreover, Crowe repeatedly fails to follow a chronological thread. Early in the book, when he is discussing Schindler's expropriation of the Krakow factory, Crowe goes into a discourse on a lawsuit that was not filed until the 1960s. While this is certainly part of the story, he would have served his readers well by waiting until his discussion of postwar developments to tell it. What initially is distracting becomes, by the end of this massive tome, maddening.

Nothing in Schindler's behavior before or after the war would have led one to identify him as a hero of such tremendous proportions. At a crucial moment, he more than rose to the occasion. He surpassed it and, as a result, saved more than a thousand people. His actions are testimony to the fact that, contrary to what many Germans claimed, there was something that people could have done. Oskar Schindler did it.

Book Review

Name: J. Moore
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Learn as much as you can about what the Jewish survivors were actually subjected to during WW2!!
Date: Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2020
Review: After watching the very moving Steven Spielberg's documentary movie, about Schindler's List, I had never heard of this wonderful, spectacular man. I'm literally proud of Spielberg's documentary movie about this great man that I just wanted to know more about him, his life and his historic experiences during WW 2 years and more. After reading the reviews on this particular book I really wanted to own it to read it. After I finally finish reading the book my plans are to then pass it along to my own grandchildren to also give them an opportunity to also learn more about their grandfather and his mother and help them in also learning more about this wonderful great man and this man's experience in his historic contributions in our history of his helping many of the Jewish survivors after our WW2's Jewish family survivors that were able to live due to Schindler's help, support and his sacrifices.
I'd really love for the opportunities to learn as much as they can about the wonderful Jewish family survivors from that time period in our history when the Jewish people were so tragically hit, tormented, tortured and tragically murdered during a period in our own history during WW2!!
Thank you Amazon for making this book available for me to find and own!

Name: StephieAnn
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: So much war info plus mind of Schinler. - who was he really?
Date: Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2015
Review: Very excellent. A glimpse into childhood, marriage, mistresses & actually working for German spies in Hitler's Abwher. He was in this group, even before Hitler took over Polad! He hired Jews, poles & more, to work his factories! It is said he wanted to make huge$ from war building - profit in any way he could during war. However in around 1942. It is reported by his Jews and non-Jews that he bacame kinder, more understanding and helpful to them, possibly due to witnessing Germanss beating, brutalizing and killing so many Jews, seeing hundreds and more just laying in street left for dead! The book is very accurate as it explains what differences in Spielberg movie he changed actual facts! People's roles were changed for no reason- plus in 42, as he changes his treatment for Jews and poles, finding shelter for some, supplying them good food w/ black market food & bldg them barracks on factory sites. Germans became ?ing, and he bribed them regularly - however he did get arrested 3x -only strange thing hard to understand that some of his workersvthought he was brutal at times as well. Though not completed w/book, you do get clear picture of the demons he dealt with as regards to German, the Jews & making profit. Will be very interesting to see where true loyalties and ambitions were created! * I know I have not done with review in total results, but I believe you will want to finish it yourself!!

Name: aklittlered
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Worth Reading
Date: Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2015
Review: I am impressed by this author and how well he wrote this book. For the most part, he stuck to facts that he could document and pointed out facts that were surmised because of a lack of direct documentation while explaining why he surmised his conclusion. I found that very refreshing. So many authors jump to conclusions and become adamant that they are absolutely right. This author stated his conclusion, gave his explanation for the conclusion, but also quoted his research documents and then let the reader draw his/her own conclusions. I can tell that he was very thorough with his research and tried very hard to refrain from giving a biased opinion. I enjoyed reading this book and suggest that others take the time to read it, especially those who may have watched Schindler's List. There is a lot of good background information regarding Germany and World War II as well as the Schindlers.

Name: Andrew Kane
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Very good
Date: Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2017
Review: A very good book. Little hard to understand because Some of the words are written in German for street names and military positions. Just stick with it it gets better. very interesting and you'll learn a lot.

Name: Anne
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Absolutely Incredible - Unable to Put it Down
Date: Reviewed in the United States on September 4, 2012
Review: I must admit I entered into reading this book with a healthy skepticism about the most intimate detail's of Oskar's life. However, Mr. Crowe has managed to capture the essence of Schindler true sense; making certain to convey him as the real life man he was with his own demons and faults and careful not to portray him as a saint. Here was a man that history remembers as one of the most extraordinary and exemplary figures of the 20th century for saving over 1,100 Jews from certain death during World War II in Nazi Germany. For those who aren't familiar with Oskar's story the basics are that he's a German businessman, a member of the Nazi party who sets out to make his fortune in Krakow, Poland using the plentiful supply of slave Jewish labor. Gradually over the five year period he maintained his business in Krakow he began to understand the magnitude of what the Nazis termed "special treatment" of the Jews - death. The Nazis had initially placed all Jews into ghettos making it easier for them to collect and transport in cattle cars to concentration and extermination camps where they were either instantly gassed or killed through hard manual labor, disease or starvation. Oskar didn't start out with a moral compass of protecting the Jews who worked for him but as his business continued to prosper and he formed relationships with his workers he softened and felt he had to protect his workers. That is only a brief history of what Schindler is known for but Crowe goes out of his way to make you understand how Schindler got to be in Krakow, how he massed his fortune, his relationship with key Nazi party leaders and ultimately the famous list of Jews that were saved as a result of his protection of his workers. In 1993 American filmmaker Steven Spielberg made a movie called "Schindler's List" based on a novel written by Thomas Kennelly regarding Oskar's heroic, dangerous and humanitarian efforts during the most dangerous period in history. The film was an excellent picture but it fails to truly capture the real bits of the story that I feel after reading Mr. Crowe's book would have made the film even more incredible. The movie may be a masterpiece, but there is no doubt that the actual events in this book if they were portrayed in the movie would be far more intriguing. I applaud the meticulous research efforts of Mr. Crowe and highly recommend this book.

Name: Marybeth Cline
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great sale
Date: Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2022
Review: Arrived quickly, as described. Great seller will buy again

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