Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Letters To Oskar Schindler From Jews He Saved To Be Auctioned

(JTA) — More than 70 letters from Jews saved from the Nazis by German businessman Oskar Schindler will be auctioned off.

Lawrences Auctioneers of England will be handling the Dec. 8 sale.

After Schindler and his wife, Emilie, fled Europe for Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1949, they began to receive letters of gratitude from the Jewish employees of his Polish enamelware factory. Schindler protected his workers by bribing SS officers and including the workers and their family members on a list of essential munitions workers. His actions were recounted in the Oscar-winning Steven Spielberg film “Schindler’s list.”

“Although I never actually met you, it is an honor and privilege, as a spiritual heir to those whom you saved, to wish you a very happy and healthy birthday,” one of the letters reads, according to the Daily Mail.

“I was very moved by your courageous self-sacrifice. More importantly, however, I thank you Frau Schindler, for having restored my faith in mankind,” another letter said. Emilie Schindler sold her jewelry and clothes to buy food and medicine for the more than 1,200 Jewish workers.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.