Oskar Schindler‘s grave in Jerusalem

© Goethe-Institut

Oskar Schindler died in 1974 aged 66 from heart failure – and as a penniless hero. In the last scene of Steven Spielberg’s film “Schindler’s List”, Jews lay stones on his grave in the form of a cross. In reality the tomb slab is covered with lots of small stones, as is usual according to Jewish custom. Oskar Schindler’s remains are buried in the Catholic cemetery at Mount Zion in Jerusalem. The German inscription reads “Der unvergessliche Lebensretter 1200 verfolgter Juden” (The Unforgettable Lifesaver of 1200 Persecuted Jews).

“Where my children are”

It was his wish to be buried in Jerusalem. That was the place “where my children were”. By that he meant the descendants of those “Schindler Jews” whom he was able to save from the Nazi concentration camps by risking his own life – of whom there were around 7000. As a member of the NSDAP he operated successful munitions and enamel factories in Poland during the war, in which he employed Jewish workers in order to protect them from being accessible to the Nazis. Schindler, who was a drinker, gambler and womaniser, invested all his assets in his rescue plans in the end. He had papers forged, bribed high-ranking Nazi officers, and obtained medication and food for his protégés on the black market. At the end of the war Schindler was bankrupt. He was denied his citizenship. He became a target for extremists.

© Goethe-Institut

After 1945 he tried to start a new life as a farmer in Argentina with his wife Emilie, who had constantly been at his side. But he returned to Germany in 1957 on his own to start up a cement factory. He failed at that too. He spent the rest of his existence in poverty, dependent on the support of Jewish organisations.

When Schindler visited Israel for the first time in 1961, 220 survivors gave him an enthusiastic welcome. A year later, a tree was planted in his honour in the Avenue of the Righteous in Yad Vashem.

Schindler travelled to Israel a total of seventeen times, until he was finally laid to rest there. The Schindler Jews made sure that his last wish was fulfilled by doing this for him.