Schindler’s father left Oskar and his mother soon after the family business went bankrupt. Oskar was offered a position as a sales manager and also joined the Konrad Helein’s Sudeten German Party.

In 1939, the first German divisions entered Czechoslovakia. Schindler was spending much of his time doing business in Krakow while his wife, Emilie Schindler, stayed in Zwittau. Earlier that same year, Schindler had been recruited by the Abwehr intelligence to give them information against the Poles. Schindler was very effective because of the way he was able to charm people at social engagements into giving him information. It was here in Krakow that Schindler decided to try his hand at war profiteering.

Oskar bought a bankrupt enamelware factory and was able to obtain the capital from Jewish businessmen to start his factory. Schindler offered kitchenware in exchange for the currency.

In March of 1940, as part of the SS plan, all Jews were to be moved to the Krakow Ghetto. After this Schindler was no longer to pay his Jewish workers their wages and was now required to pay 7.5 RM per day for skilled workers and 5 RM per day for unskilled workers to the SS headquarters.

With June , 1942, came the beginning of the plan for the liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto. Over 7,000 people were removed and sent to various labor camps. The final liquidation orders were given on February 12, 1943 to a young SS officer by the name of Amon Goeth. The healthy occupants were to be sent to the Plaszow labor camp where Amon was to be the commandant. Early in the morning on March 13, the final liquidation of the Krakow ghetto began. Schindler soon created a labor subcamp in order to increase production. Here in the new camp, guards were to keep to their side of the fence and were not permitted on the factory without permission from Schindler himself. The meals at Schindler's factory consisted of a 2000 calorie diet compared to the 700-1200 calories the Plaszow kitchens serve.

Later that summer, Schindler received orders stating that Plaszow was to be closed and the Emalia camp dismantled. Oskar came up with the plan of moving his factory to Czechoslovakia and taking his workers with him. After a major show of Oskar’s appreciation, Amon agreed to lend his support and to permit Oskar to draw up a list of the names o the workers that he wished to take with him. That Autumn, Schindler began making the necessary contacts and large bribes essential to secure his move to Brunnlitz. On October 15, 1944 the liquidation of the Plaszow camp began with the men. Due to an error, the women were sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau. That same week, Schindler had been arrested in Czechoslovakia for allegedly being connected with Amon Goth’s involvement in the Black Market. After a few weeks of questioning, Oskar was released and went right to work on rescuing his women workers from Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Oskar was able to bribe the SS with diamonds to gain the release of his women. He claimed that the children were essential towards the war effort because of their long thin fingers allowed them to polish the inside of anti-tank shells. The SS agreed and the women and children were returned to Czechoslovakia.

During that time, the factory never produced a single operational shell due to what Schindler claimed to be “start-up difficulties”. Schindler made several promises to the Armaments Inspectorate to work the problems out but never intended to fulfill them. In April of 1945, Schindler received a letter from the Commandant of the Gross-Rossen camp instructing the disposal of the population should the Russians decide to invade.

Schindler gathered everyone onto the factory floor to give a speech. At five after midnight, Oskar left the factory. On his way out, he was presented with the Hebrew letter and also a gold ring. Inside the gold ring, the words “He who saves one life it is as if he has saved the entire world.”

Oskar Schindler was honored by the Yad Vashem and declared a Righteous Gentile on April 28, 1962. Schindler was responsible for the rescue of over 1,200 Jewish people from death camps. This is considered a large number of Jews saved by anyone, but Thomas Keneally (author of Schindler’s List) has quite accurately written, “Oskar was only a minor god of rescue.”

Though Schindler was declared a Righteous Gentile, no one can hide who Oskar Schindler really was. These terms all accurately describe the real Oskar Schindler, a German war profiteer of slave labor, a crook, an alcoholic, and a womanizer. Why was Oskar Schindler given the title of a Righteous Gentile in Jerusalem and invited to plant a carob tree in the Avenue of the Righteous? The answer is simple: To more than 1,200 Jewish people held as prisoners in camps during World War II, Oskar Schindler and his factories are all that stood between them and death at the hands of the Nazis. Oskar Schindler’s motives, even to this day, are not completely clear.