Typist of Schindler’s List Dies at 91
The Polish-born Jew who typed up Schindler’s list is being buried today in Augsburg, Germany, where flags will fly at half-mast in his honor.
Mietek Pemper, who typed the names of more than 1,000 Jews saved by the ethnically German industrialist, was 91, and had lived in Augsburg since 1958, working as a consultant and taking on German citizenship.
Born Mieczyslaw Pemper in Krakow, he had been enslaved during the war in the work camp of Plaszow, serving as the personal typist for Amon Goeth, the head of the camp. After secretly reading Goeth’s mail, Pemper compiled a list of more than 1,000 Jews who Oskar Schindler could save with employment at a factory. Pemper ended up testifying after the war against Goeth, who was hanged, and stayed friends with Schindler until the latter’s death in 1974.
His story was told on the big screen by Steven Spielberg, of course, but Pemper also wrote a memoir of his own, releasing “”The Road to Rescue: The Untold Story of Schindler’s List,” in 2005.
“Fate had placed me between the [Schindler and Goeth], and it was like having an angel on one side and a demon on the other,” he wrote.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
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 the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
