Good Morning my name was Oskar Schindler, I was a German industrialist

during World War II.

I was born into a German Catholic family on April 28, 1908. During the war,
I operated a factory that employed more than 1,000 Polish Jews, saving
them from concentration camps and extermination.

In the 1930s, I joined a local pro-Nazi organization and began collecting

intelligence for the German military. I was arrested by Czech authorities in
1938, charged with spying and sentenced to death but was released shortly
thereafter, when Germany annexed the Sudetenland. I would take
advantage of this second chance.

In September 1939, starting World War II, I renamed the factory German
Enamelware Factory and started production with a small staff. I secured
numerous German army contracts for kitchenware. I soon met Stern, a
Jewish, who connected me with Krakow’s Jewish community to staff the
factory.

Starting out with 45 employees, the company grew to more than 1,700 at
its peak in 1944. Initially, I hired Jewish workers because they were a less
expensive Polish workforce. But as Nazi atrocities against the Jewish
community increased, my attitude changed. With the help of Stern, I found
reasons to hire more Jewish workers, regardless of their abilities. By 1942,
nearly half of my employees were Jewish and were known as
Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews). When the Nazis began to relocate
Krakow’s Jews to labor camps, Stern and several hundred other
employees were among them. I raced to the train station and confronted an
SS officer, arguing that my workers were essential to the war effort. After
several tense minutes of dropping names and making veiled threats, I was
able to free my workers and escort them back to the factory.

In early 1943, the Nazis implemented the liquidation of the Krakow Jewish
population and opened up the Plaszow work camp, run by the notoriously
sadistic commandant, Amon Göth. I cultivated a relationship with Göth, and
whenever any of his workers were threatened with deportation to a
concentration camp or execution, I managed to provide a black-market gift
or bribe to save their lives.

In 1944, Plaszow transitioned from a labor camp to a concentration camp

and all Jews were to be sent to the death camp at Auschwitz. I requested
Göth allow me to relocate my factory to Brnĕnec, in the Sudetenland, and
produce war goods. I was told to draw up a list of workers I wanted to take
with me. With Stern’s help, I created a list of 1,100 Jewish names my
deemed “essential” for the new factory. Permission was granted and the
factory was moved. Not wanting to contribute to the German war effort, I
ordered my workers to purposefully make defective products that would fail
inspection. The employees spent the remaining months of the war in the
factory.

The day after the war ended, my wife and I fled to Argentina with the help
of the Schindlerjuden to avoid prosecution.

Carlos Belfort Llorens