Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who went to Krakow, Poland, to profit from the Nazi war economy.

There he acquired a factory that produced enamelware and employed Jewish workers because they were cheap labor.

At first, he was an opportunist who sympathized with the Nazis and used their anti-Semitic policies to grow his business.

Upon witnessing the brutal reality of the Krakow ghetto and the concentration camps, his views changed radically.

With the help of his Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern, he protected his workers by claiming they were essential to military production.

When the Nazi persecution intensified, he used bribes and connections to prevent his employees from being deported to Auschwitz.

In 1943, the Nazis relocated the Jews of Krakow to the Plaszów camp. Schindler managed to protect his workers.

In 1944, Schindler compiled a list with the names of more than 1,100 Jews whom he managed to save from another deportation attempt.

He took them to a new factory in Brünnlitz, Czechoslovakia, with the sole purpose of keeping them alive and without concern for production.

For months, he fed, protected, and cared for the Jews under his charge and spent his entire fortune to keep them alive.