Model of Oskar Schindler’s Gold Ring Donated by Australian Jeweler

SYDNEY (JTA) — A long-thought lost model used by grateful Jewish workers to create a gold ring for Oskar Schindler has been donated to the Melbourne Jewish Holocaust Centre, where it will go on display.
The model that lay in the Melbourne workshop of ring maker Jozef Gross for more than 50 years.
The ring-making was portrayed in Steven Spielberg’s film “Schindler’s List” as having been made from gold sourced from prisoners’ teeth, according to the Holocaust center.
Schindler, the hero of Thomas Kenneally’s book “Schindler’s Ark” as well as the Oscar-winning film, was a German industrialist and member of the Nazi Party who saved Jews by employing them in his factory and treating them humanely. He saved about 1,200 Jews.
At the end of the war Gross, a master jeweler, made the ring for Schindler, who lost it shortly after the war. The model came to Australia with Gross.
The jeweler was a very private person and chose not to share his story with the world, telling only his family and a few others about his war experiences. Importantly, however, Gross gave an in-depth description of the process used to make the ring to his Australian business partner. The model was discovered by Gross’ son, Louis, in a box, along with other jewelry-making paraphernalia after Gross died in 1997.
The model is one of the few physical objects remaining from Schindler’s factory.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Fast Forward Why the Antisemitism Awareness Act now has a religious liberty clause to protect ‘Jews killed Jesus’ statements
- 2
Culture Trump wants to honor Hannah Arendt in a ‘Garden of American Heroes.’ Is this a joke?
- 3
Fast Forward The invitation said, ‘No Jews.’ The response from campus officials, at least, was real.
- 4
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
In Case You Missed It
-
Opinion Ireland’s prime minister gave condolences for Hitler’s death — here’s why that’s a contemporary problem
-
Fast Forward The fires in Israel are under control — but debate is raging over their cause
-
Fast Forward Argentina declassifies more than 1,800 files on Nazi escape via ‘rat-lines’ to South America
-
Fast Forward Betar USA founder banned from World Zionist Congress over feud with Israeli firebrand Shai Davidai
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
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 comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag 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.