Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was a Sudeten German who had a passion for women, liquor and motorbikes. In 1939 he followed the German Army into Krakow, Poland. He befriended and ingratiated himself with the officers of the SS, but after seeing an Aktion (mass execution of Jews), was heard to say: "I am now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system."

Schindler set up a factory called "Emalia" which produced (very poor quality) enamelware and shell casings for the military. By 1942 he had 500 Jews 'working' for him there. Bribing German officials, Schindler insisted that his factory site be protected and when they liquidated the Krakow ghetto in 1943, he paid them for 900 more Jews. Even those actually unfit or unqualified to work he housed safely in his compound. Although "Schindler's Jews" worked very long shifts, they suffered no beatings or executions and were provided with food and medicine.

Oskar Schindler

With the Russian advance in 1944, Schindler moved his factory to Brunnlitz in Czechoslovakia. Paying massive bribes to the SS, he took with him 800 Jewish men and 300 women as his 'workers'. The men had been destined for Gross Rosen concentration camp and the women for Auschwitz. One group of women ended up in Auschwitz by mistake, but Schindler miraculously got them out, saving all from certain death. The mother, father, aunt and uncle of Melbournite Anna Rosner Blay were among these Jews saved by Schindler.

In 1962 Oskar Schindler was honoured by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the Nations. Australian author Thomas Keneally wrote a book telling Schindler's story, which was turned into the film "Schindler's List" by Steven Spielberg.

Raoul Wallenberg
One of the most significant rescues of Jews during the Holocaust was mounted by a young Swedish aristocrat named Raoul Wallenberg. Wallenberg's family were involved in banking and he had once worked in the Haifa (Palestine) branch, getting to know many Jews there. He also had a Hungarian Jewish business partner back in Sweden.

For these reasons, Wallenberg was chosen to head a Swedish diplomatic mission to rescue the Jews of Hungary. Based in Budapest, he set up a department which issued local Jews with important-looking certificates, emblazoned with a yellow and blue flag and Sweden's crown. The holders of these "Wallenberg passports" were protected from the Nazi bureaucracy and thereby avoided being deported to Auschwitz. This protection lasted for three months, during which time 10 000 other Hungarian Jews were deported there every day.

Wallenberg also set up soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages and schools for the remaining Hungarian Jews. He established a "safe zone" of 31 houses and special hostels which absorbed 33 000 Jews. He personally pulled people from trains and tried to ease the suffering of others on marches with truckloads of food, water, blankets and medicine. Once he even secured the release of 70 000 people by having Eichmann's orders reversed. In the last days of the war he foiled Nazi plans to blow up two ghettos, an act which alone saved 100 000 Jews.

Raoul Wallenberg disappeared into Soviet custody in 1945. At one time the Soviets claimed that he had died in custody in 1947, but we may never know what really happened to him. Books, films, memorials, street names and honorary citizenships keep this incredible man's name alive.

Raoul Wallenberg's photo appears in the top left corner of this page.