Is Oskar Schindler a good role model why?
Answers
"The persecution of Jews in the General Government in Polish territory gradually worsened in its cruelty. In 1939 and 1940 they were forced to wear the Star of David and were herded together and confined in ghettos. In 1941 and 1942 this unadulterated sadism was fully revealed. And then a thinking man, who had overcome his inner cowardice, simply had to help. There was no other choice."
—Oskar Schindler, 1964 interview
Oskar Schindler’s actions to protect Jews during the Holocaust have earned him a special place among honored rescuers.
He was an ethnic German living in Moravia, Czechoslovakia, who joined the Nazi party in 1939. In the wake of the German invasion of Poland, Schindler went to Krakow. He assumed responsibility for the operation of two formerly Jewish-owned manufacturers of enamel kitchenware and then established his own enamel works in Zablocie, outside Krakow. Through army contracts and the exploitation of cheap labor from the Krakow ghetto, he amassed a fortune. Dealing on the black market, he lived in high style.
In 1942 and early 1943, the Germans decimated the ghetto’s population of some 20,000 Jews through shootings and deportations. Several thousand Jews who survived the ghetto’s liquidation were taken to Plaszow, a forced labor camp. Moved by the cruelties he witnessed, Schindler contrived to transfer his Jewish workers to barracks at his factory.
In late summer 1944, through negotiations and bribes from his war profits, Schindler secured permission from German army and SS officers to move his workers and other endangered Jews to Bruennlitz. Schindler and his workforce set up a bogus munitions factory, which sustained them in relative safety until the war ended.
Note- Reference taken from the internet
Now coming to your question,
I believe a hero is someone who stands up for what he or she thinks is right. To this day the relatives of the Jews or the Jews that Schindler saved, still visit his grave in honour of what he did.
Oscar Schindler was a true hero. The reason why I recognise him as one is because he saved hundreds of Jews during the Holocaust knowing he could be killed if anyone found out.
Despite some of his shortcomings, Schindler can still be seen as a moral exemplar from which others can learn and by which others can be inspired to live well.
So, of course he is a hero! An unlikely one, but a hero nevertheless!
PS- I'd highly recommend you to watch the 1993 Steven Spielberg classic- "Schindler's List"
Cheerio!
