Oskar Schindler Essay Example
Oskar Schindler
A Story of Life
Humanitarian Terry Prachett said, “Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people. Oskar Schindler was an ordinary person who despite his faults, managed to accomplish extraordinary things. Despite Schindler’s early ambitions to use World War II to make a profit for himself, something changed within him and he soon began to have doubts about his career ambitions as he witnessed the inhumane brutality of the Jewish race. With the Jewish race at the hands of annihilation by the Nazis, Schindler saw, over and over again, Jews herded like animals in to cattle cars and transported to a certain death. Schindler realized that it was his duty to help these Jewish people and he vowed to spend his life and his fortune saving as many lives as he could save. A most unlikely hero by all accounts, Oskar Schindler spent his fortune and his life devoted to saving a generation of lost souls, destined for a horrific death, in what the world calls the Holocaust. From humble beginnings to a wealthy status to penniless yet again, Oskar Schindler’s devotion to sparing over 1,000 Jewish lives has been accounted as one of the most notable humanitarian efforts of mankind. Born April 18, 1908 to the Hans Schindler family of Zwittau, Austria-Hungary, Oskar Schindler and his sister, Elfriede were raised with a few more privileges compared to other boys and girls their ages. During this time, boys of a young age were expected to behave a certain way if they expected to gain employment after their school years were over. Oskar Schindler felt as if this rule did not apply to him, as he was sure to get a job in the family business, farm machinery production. Therefore, at an early age he began to do and act as he pleased. As he grew older, he began to follow in his father’s footsteps of drinking, partying, and enjoying the
A Story of Life
Humanitarian Terry Prachett said, “Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or fundamentally evil, but by people being fundamentally people. Oskar Schindler was an ordinary person who despite his faults, managed to accomplish extraordinary things. Despite Schindler’s early ambitions to use World War II to make a profit for himself, something changed within him and he soon began to have doubts about his career ambitions as he witnessed the inhumane brutality of the Jewish race. With the Jewish race at the hands of annihilation by the Nazis, Schindler saw, over and over again, Jews herded like animals in to cattle cars and transported to a certain death. Schindler realized that it was his duty to help these Jewish people and he vowed to spend his life and his fortune saving as many lives as he could save. A most unlikely hero by all accounts, Oskar Schindler spent his fortune and his life devoted to saving a generation of lost souls, destined for a horrific death, in what the world calls the Holocaust. From humble beginnings to a wealthy status to penniless yet again, Oskar Schindler’s devotion to sparing over 1,000 Jewish lives has been accounted as one of the most notable humanitarian efforts of mankind. Born April 18, 1908 to the Hans Schindler family of Zwittau, Austria-Hungary, Oskar Schindler and his sister, Elfriede were raised with a few more privileges compared to other boys and girls their ages. During this time, boys of a young age were expected to behave a certain way if they expected to gain employment after their school years were over. Oskar Schindler felt as if this rule did not apply to him, as he was sure to get a job in the family business, farm machinery production. Therefore, at an early age he began to do and act as he pleased. As he grew older, he began to follow in his father’s footsteps of drinking, partying, and enjoying the