Oskar Schindler Biography

Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908. He was born into a German Catholic family and grew up in Zwittau, Moravia, which is now part of Czechoslovakia. Oskar was the first child born and he had one sibling. His family was prosperous in business and made a great deal of money. Oskar was best friends with two Jewish boys that lived in his neighborhood when he was young. He attended trade school instead of going to college. Oskar married Emilie Pelzl on March 6, 1928. He had many strange jobs before he joined the Nazi Party. He worked for his father until the 1930’s, when the company went bankrupt as a result of the Great Depression. Oskar joined the Nazi Party in 1939 to escape unemployment. He was a spy and collected information that was useful
He intended for the camp to be used to keep the Polish people from resisting German rule and a place to keep them if they did resist. The camp was built on April 27, 1940 under the instruction of Heinrich Himmler. Auschwitz-Birkenau was expanded in March of 1941. People were brought here from many different parts of the world. The camp is located near a railroad. Auschwitz-Birkenau is the common term used for the three camps that were combined to make one. It was one of the largest camps the Nazis created. The camp contained many sub-camps that the people worked in. Contact with anyone outside of the camp would result in death. A women’s camp was created in March of 1942. In February of 1943, a Gypsy area was created as well. An estimated 2.1 to 4 million people lost their lives here. The camp contained multiple gas chambers, and they were the cause of most deaths. Other reasons for death were extreme hunger, sickness, being shot, and being experimented on. The camp was liberated by Soviets on January 27, 1945. Only around 200,000 who entered the camp came out. The camp is still in Oswiecim and is used as a museum