Two early photographs of Oscar Schindler and his wife Emily Schindler.
Oscar and Emilie Schindler: Oscar [1908-1974] and Emilie [1907-2001] Schindler met in 1928, when Schindler came to Alt Multain to sell electric motors to her father. Emilie was a German from the Sudetenland. On March 6, 1928, the two married in a hostel on the outskirts of Schindler's town, Zwitau. Alongside her famous husband, Emilie also helped save the lives of some 1,200 to 1,700 Jews during World War II by employing them in enamel and ammunition factories, so that these Jews gained immunity from the Nazis as vital workers to the German war effort. In 1938 Schindler joined the ranks of the Nazi Party and moved to Krakow while Emilie remained in Zwitau. Schindler gained ownership of an enamel tool factory and changed its name to the "German Enamel Industry" (Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik), where it employed mainly Jewish workers. Emilie and Oscar became acquainted with the horrors of the Nazi occupation of Poland and began to protect the Jews who worked in their factory. At first they saved the workers by bribing SS guards and later introduced their workers as vital workers for the production of ammunition for the Reich. As conditions worsened and their money ran out, Emilie sold her jewelry in order to buy food, clothing and medicine. She treated patients in a secret sanatorium at a factory in Brünnlitz with medical equipment she had purchased on the black market. In May 1945, when the Soviets occupied Brünnlitz, the couple left the Jews in a factory and hid, fearing prosecution due to Oscar's ties to the Nazi party. The Schindlers fled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with dozens of Jews rescued by Schindler. In 1949 they settled on an agricultural farm and were financially supported by a Jewish organization. In 1957 Oscar Schindler went bankrupt, abandoned his wife and returned to Germany. Although they never divorced, they never saw each other again. Emilie lived in San Vicente, about 40 km southwest of Buenos Aires. She received a small pension from Israel and Germany. Argentine police were deployed 24 hours a day to protect her from extremist anti-Semitic groups. Schindler received medals of honor from a number of Jewish organizations for her efforts during World War II. Oscar first arrived in Israel on April 28, 1962. Hundreds of people attended his excited reception at Lod Airport, most of them Jews he saved. From then on, Schindler divided his time between Jerusalem and a modest one-room apartment in Frankfurt. On June 18, 1962, a tree was planted in honor of Schindler in Yad Vashem. Schindler stayed in Israel 16 times until he died in Germany on October 9, 1974. He was buried in the cemetery on Mount Zion in Jerusalem, at his request. On July 24, 1993, the decision was approved to recognize Oscar Schindler and his wife Emilie as Righteous Among the Nations.
Photographs of the same size 9x14 cm. Glued to an old cardboard. Moisture stains in both photographs. moderate condition.
