While Oscar Mayer is pretty fly, there’s a different Oscar on my mind.

Oskar Schindler. As many of you know from the movie, during World War II he employed and saved hundreds of Jews. Even unqualified “losers” were put to work doing something in his factory. It just so happens that Oskar Schindler’s very own factory is in Krakow! Pretty convenient. It’s been remodeled now and resides as one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. We heard so many stories of how he saved people’s lives. What an incredible man. Here’s some interesting situations and facts I learned from the interviews with the very people that worked for Mr. Schindler: 

Once, one of his workers was arrested and sent to Płaszów- a concentration camp. The next day Oskar noticed that this man was missing and had heard about the round up. He went to the camp, looking for his missing employee, brought him back home and sent him to his room to rest. 

He built barracks for his workers to live in but he would not allow ANYONE into them, not even the SS men that watched the factory. 

He fed his workers filling food and they never went hungry. 

There was an overabundance of pots and so he paid the workers partly in pots which they could sell at the market for good money. 

There was a room in the museum that was covered in writing. When I looked closer, I saw that there were little snippets and phrases from stories about what Oskar Schindler had done for them. One phrase that seemed to jump out at me read “He secretively cast a small package to my feet.” For some reason that just struck me as amazing. Even when he could have given up and just let the Nazi’s take his workers, he didn’t. Even when he had to send them away because the Nazi’s were on their way, he still went above and beyond. How inspiring were the stories that I heard at that museum. I wish I could repeat them all. It was incredible. 

It made me think; how many Oskar Schindlers are hiding among us? Men and women who stand up against racism and discrimination. How many people give to help those less fortunate. How many people put their needs and desires on the back burner and put others first. People who refuse to live along side inequity and bias. How many people are out there that are truly hero? Oskar Schindler is truly a hero. I want to be an Oskar Schindler. I want to go against the flow and stand up for whats right. What an amazing legacy to leave behind. I hope my legacy lives on like Schindler’s. 

Pictures from the Museum (just a few! I didn’t take very many) 

It was pretty creepy to walk through this hallway..                A Hitler puppet, I just found this amusing..                   The pots that they made..             Schindler’s List  was on the walls in this room…       The wall I was talking about … 

More of Schindler’s people…