Oskar Schindler: A Hero Study

CONFLICT AND RELEVANT BACKGROUND

Oskar Schindler faced many conflicts in his life. The main conflict he faced was overcoming the Nazis and saving over one thousand Jewish People. Schindler, with out a job at the time, joined the Nazi Party and followed on the heels of the SS when the Germans invaded Poland. This is when Schindler took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products and opened up his own enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. There, he employed mostly Jewish workers, which saved them from being deported to labor camps. Though twice the Gestapo arrested him, he got released because of his many connections and with many bribes. Most importantly, he helped save an entire race of human beings.

CHRONICLER AND MEDIA

We know of Oskar Schindler through many different types of the media. We know of him through the television, newspapers, books, and by word of mouth through the Jewish people he had saved. There was even a movie based on Oskar Schindler called Schindler’s List. There are several books about him, many were even written by some of the Jews he saved themselves.

EPIC HERO ELEMENTS IN THE LIFE OF OSCAR SCHINDLER

Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908 in Zwitlau, which is now part of the present day Czech Republic, to his father and mother, Hans and Louisa Schindler. They were a deeply religious family, which resulted in a strong catholic household for Oskar and his younger sister Elfriede. The Schindler family was one of the richest and most prominent in Zwitlau and elsewhere. Mostly due to the success of their family owned machinery business. Oskar Schindler wasn’t necessarily born of noble birth. He was basically an ordinary guy, especially when his father lost his business, who did extraordinary deeds for people who he has never even met.

One can also see how Schindler was a hero in is character traits. Schindler was always thoughtful and humane in dealing with Jews. He saved the most Jewish people during World War II. The society at that point of time was going downhill and almost came to a big crash. Hitler could have destroyed a whole race of people if it wasn’t for the help of Oskar Schindler. Although he did join the Nazi’s, Schindler still had a heart and a mind to know what Adolf Hitler was doing was wrong and immoral and to try and he...

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Further more, there is a universal theme, such as good and evil. The good would definitely be Oskar Schindler who helped the Jewish people and didn’t need, nor want any type of reward for it. The evil side would be Adolf Hitler who was trying to kill an entire race just because of their religion, believing that they were the evil ones. He only thought this way because he was ignorant of the Jewish religion, and other types of people, and therefore feared them, which caused him to hate and want to kill them all. At the end though, as it is most commonly believed to be the evil should die and the good should live. Though most of the Jews died, a few thousand still lived while the evil side, Adolf Hitler, died by committing suicide.

DEATH OF OSKAR SCHINDLER

Oskar Schindler died in October 1974, and is buried in the Latin cemetery on Mount Zion, Jerusalem. Over one thousand Jews owe their lives to this singular man. On his grave, there lie many stones, each from many Jews who he saved and many other Jews who think of him as hero. I do not know he died how he died exactly but it is basically from natural causes. Schindler is still adored as a hero from many of the Jewish people.