March 2017 | Nate Pedersen

Real Schindler's List Up for Sale

Schindler,_Oskar.jpgGerman industrialist Oskar Schindler saved the lives of approximately 1,200 Jews during the Nazi regime by employing them in his enamelware factory in occupied Poland and subsequently at his armaments factory in occupied Czechoslovakia, a story immortalized in the novel, Schindler's Ark, by Thomas Keneally and the subsequent film, Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg.


Schindler drew up seven lists of Jews to be transferred by special arrangement from the concentration camp at Plaszòw to work at his Czechoslovakia factory in 1944 and 1945, a move which almost certainly saved their lives. Schindler spent his entire fortune during the war to bribe Nazi officials and save his workers from deportation and death.


Of the seven original Schindler's lists, only four are thought to have survived. Two are held in Israel at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, and one is held at the US Holocaust museum in Washington DC. This fourth list, the penultimate list from April, 1945, is the only list in private hands. It is currently being offered for sale by documents dealer Moments in Time.


The reserve price is $2.4m.


[Image of Oskar Schindler from Wikipedia]