Schindler's Factory

The factory at 4 Lipowa Street started operating two years before the war. It was established by three Jewish entrepreneurs.

In autumn 1939, it was taken over by a German, Oskar Schindler (1908-1974). In his Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, commonly known as Emalia, he employed Jews, thus saving them from displacement and transportation to camps. After the formation of a ghetto, the number of Jewish employees increased (in the years 1941-1943) from 190 to 900.

After the ghetto's abolition (March 1943), thanks to his vast network of friends and his bribes, Schindler managed to obtain a permit to create a labour sub-camp in Płaszów, on the premises of the factory. His employees lived in barracks built by the factory. The sanitary conditions and food rations were a lot better than in camps.

In the face of defeat, the Nazis started to evacuate and the sub-camp in Emalia was closed down. This is when Schindler decided to purchase a building in Brünnlitz (the Czech Republic) to establish an ammunition factory. It was supposed to employ the Jews who had worked in Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik. That way Schindler managed to save around 1100 people.

In 1993, these events gave rise to Steven Spielberg's film, Schindler's List. Schindler stayed in touch with the Jews he had saved until the end of his life and he was bestowed with the Righteous Among the Nations honorific by Yad Vashem. In accordance with his wish, he was buried at a Catholic cemetery in Jerusalem.

Translation: Summa Linguae