Call Number:

C1682

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 linear foot
• 1 box

Language:

German

Date:

1994-1998 (inclusive) and 1994-1995 (bulk)

Creator:

Schindler, Emilie (1907-2001) and Rosenberg, Erika (1951)

Form:

Audiocassettes. -- 20th century and Interviews. -- 20th century

Abstract:

Consists of forty-eight audiocassette tapes containing a series of interviews that Erika Rosenberg (1951- ) conducted with Emilie Schindler (1907-2001) in the mid-1990s, which concentrate on Schindler's childhood, her marriage to Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), their work protecting Jewish people from extermination during World War II, and her life in Argentina after the war.

Emilie Schindler, née Emilie Pelzl, was the daughter of Sudeten German farmers living in what is now Maletín in the Czech Republic. In 1928, she married Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), who became a Nazi Party member and took ownership over Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik, a factory in Kraków, Poland, at the outset of World War II. In collaboration with her husband, Emilie Schindler helped to rescue 1200 Jewish people who were employed at the factory by declaring them as essential workers and bribing SS guards. Emilie Schindler sold her valuables to buy provisions for their employees and cared for the sick in a secret sanatorium. As the war drew to a close, the Schindlers went into hiding over fears of being prosecuted as members of the Nazi Party. In 1949, they moved to Argentina, where they were financially supported by a local Jewish organization. Oskar Schindler left Emilie Schindler in 1957 to return to Germany to sort out his financial affairs and never returned. Emilie Schindler lived in Argentina for the remainder of her life, returning to Germany shortly before her death in 2001.

Erika Rosenberg (1951- ) is an Argentine author, journalist, interpreter, and professor of German language and history at the Goethe Institute in Buenos Aires. Her parents were Jewish immigrants who escaped from Germany to Argentina in the years leading up to the Holocaust. Rosenberg became friends with Emilie Schindler (1907-2001) in 1990 while conducting a research project on Jewish immigrants to Argentina. She later became Schindler's biographer and published several books about her, including Schindler's memoirs.

Consists of forty-eight audiocassette tapes containing a series of interviews that Erika Rosenberg (1951- ) conducted with Emilie Schindler (1907-2001) in the mid-1990s, which concentrate on Schindler's childhood, her marriage to Oskar Schindler (1908-1974), their work protecting Jewish people from extermination during World War II, and her life in Argentina after the war. While most of the tapes contain interview material, a few also include recordings of radio programs about Emilie and Oskar Schindler. The majority of the content is in German, with some Spanish spoken. The interviews were mostly recorded between 1994 and 1995, with some as late as 1998.

The tapes contain a total of between twelve and twenty hours of recorded conversation and provide a detailed and personal account of Emilie Schindler's memories and life experiences. Some content represents source material used in Schindler's memoirs, which she published in collaboration with Rosenberg as Where Light and Shadow Meet: A Memoir (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) and In Schindlers Schatten: Emilie Schindler erzählt ihre Geschichte (Kiepenheuer & Witsch, 1997). These interviews provide evidence of Emilie Schinder's role as an equal collaborator with her husband in the couple's efforts to protect Jewish workers during the Holocaust.