Winter 1999-00

GENEALOGY PROJECT
Have you seen "Schindler's List?" You have probably seen the movie. But have you seen the actual list?

Among the holdings of Warsaw's Jewish Historical Institute Archives are original portions of Oscar Schindler's list of factory employees, made famous by Steven Spielberg's film. In reality, Oscar Schindler did not create just one list; many shorter lists were created as increasing numbers of desperate Jews sought haven in Schindler's DEF plant in Krakow, Poland.

The Jewish Historical Institute's Archives hold lists of the receipts signed by Schindler's workers as they received food, medication, clothing, shoes and bedding from the Jewish Social Self-Help Agency [ZSS]. Remarkably, the Nazis required the ZSS to provide the camps and ghettos in occupied Poland with such items until the Autumn of 1942.

JHI's Archives hold extensive correspondence between the DEF plant and ZSS. Since the files which have survived were ZSS files, rather than Schindler's, the files contain Schindler's originals on letterhead (as received by ZSS) -- Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik/Oskar Schindler, proprietor -- and carbon copies of ZSS responses (the originals having been mailed out). It is still shocking to see the "Heil Hitler" salutation -- on letters addressed to a Jewish institution! (A May 1941 telephone directory recently acquired for the archives by The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Genealogy Project features a half-page display ad for Schindler's DEF.)

Those who saw the film won't forget Helena, the Jewish maid who so infatuated Commandant Amon Goeth. JHI's Archives hold the real Helena Hirsch's gripping testimony about her sufferings at Goeth's hands. (Hirsch's is among over 7,000 testimonies collected in the 1940s by the Central Jewish Historical Commission.) Goeth's story is also well documented: Testimony from his trial, ZSS correspondence with the Plaszow administration and memoirs of prisoners are all preserved. The JHI Museum holds an oil painting of Rolf, Goeth's vicious rottweiler, who was known for brutally maiming Jewish prisoners for the amusement of Goeth and his fellow soldiers. The painting was commissioned from a captive Jewish artist.

Schindler's story is one of millions within the Jewish Historical Institute Archives. As the archives continue to be processed in the years ahead, other stories of unspeakable tragedy and of stunning heroism will surely come to light.

The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation is committed to preserving and passing on the legacy of our people through its Genealogy Project and educational programs in Central and Eastern Europe.

Yale Reisner

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