Poldek Pfefferberg
Encyclopedia
Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg, (20 March 1913 – 9 March 2001), also known as Leopold Page,HON. TOM LANTOS, in the House of Representatives. 21 April, 1994 Library of Congress. Retrieved 8 September 2006. was a Polish-American Holocaust survivor who inspired the Australian writer Thomas Keneally
to write the Booker prize-winning novel Schindler's Ark
, which in turn was the basis for Steven Spielberg
's film Schindler's List
.
, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He gained a master's degree in philosophy
and physical education
from the Jagiellonian University
, Kraków. He then became a high-school teacher
in Kraków until 1939. He became the physical education
professor at Kosciuszko Gymnasium in Podgórze
.
In 1939 he joined the Polish Army and took part in the defense of Poland against the German invasion. He later explained to the Australian novelist Thomas Keneally
how he was wounded on the San River
where his life was saved by his sergeant major
, who carried him to a field hospital
.'The Handbag Studio' Granta Publications
and the Soviet Union
, Pfefferberg needed to decide to travel East or West. In his own words:
As a prisoner at Płaszów, near Kraków, Pfefferberg used a German-issued document to visit his soldiers in a military hospital, and also to visit his mother. In this way he met Oskar Schindler
, a Sudeten
-German businessman who was taking over an enamelware factory that had been confiscated from Jews. Schindler employed Pfefferberg's mother, an interior designer, to decorate his new apartment.
Through this connection Pfefferberg was employed in Schindler's factory near the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp outside Kraków. This enabled him to survive the extermination of 3 million Polish Jews, during which his parents, sister, brother-in-law and many other relatives were murdered. Pfefferberg described Schindler as "a modern Noah," who was able to save a number of Kraków Jews
from deportation to the nearby extermination camp at Auschwitz
. Those he saved became known as Schindlerjuden
or "Schindler's Jews".
In 1941 he married Ludmila Page (then Ludmila Lewison) with whom he would have two children.
He moved with Schindler and many others to a camp at Brünnlitz.
During these experiences he acquired skill as a welder
.
, then in Munich
where he organized a school for refugee children. In 1948 he emigrated to the United States
. He and his wife settled in Los Angeles
, eventually opening a leather goods business in Beverly Hills. In the United States he used the name Leopold Page, although in later years he apparently reverted to Pfefferberg. He tried on a number of occasions to interest the screen-writers and film-makers he met through his business in a film based on the story of Schindler and his actions in saving Polish Jews from the Nazis, arranging several interviews with Schindler for American television. Schindler's death in 1974 seemed to end any possibility of a film.
In 1980 Pfefferberg met Thomas Keneally
in his shop, and, learning that he was a novelist, showed him his extensive files on Schindler. Keneally was interested, and Pfefferberg became an advisor for the book, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Kraków and the sites associated with the Schindler story. Keneally dedicated Schindler's Ark to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written."
Pfefferberg explained the reasons behind his efforts to have the Schindler story told as:
After the publication of Schindler's Ark in 1982, Pfefferberg worked to persuade Steven Spielberg
to film Kenneally's book, using his acquaintance with Spielberg's mother to gain access. Pfefferberg claimed to have called Spielberg's office every week for 11 years. When in 1992 Spielberg agreed to make the film, Pfefferberg worked as an advisor, again making the trip to Poland to show Spielberg the sites, and he appears in the film's epilogue. Pfefferberg and his wife were Spielberg's guests on the night Schindler's List won seven Academy Awards
. In his acceptance speech Spielberg thanked "a survivor named Poldek Pfefferberg ... I owe him such a debt. He has carried the story of Oskar Schindler to all of us."
Pfefferberg was a founder of the Oskar Schindler Humanities Foundation, which recognises acts by individuals and organizations, regardless of race or nationality. He remarked on the Foundation:
Pfefferberg died 9 March 2001, aged 87, in Beverly Hills. He is survived by his wife Mila, a son and daughter.
among the documentation Thomas Keneally gave as a donation to the State Library of New South Wales
.
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
to write the Booker prize-winning novel Schindler's Ark
Schindler's Ark
Schindler's Ark is a Booker Prize-winning novel published in 1982 by Australian Thomas Keneally, which was later adapted into the highly successful movie Schindler's List directed by Steven Spielberg...
, which in turn was the basis for Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's film Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
.
Early life
Pfefferberg was born into a Jewish family in KrakówKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He gained a master's degree in philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
and physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
from the Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
, Kraków. He then became a high-school teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
in Kraków until 1939. He became the physical education
Physical education
Physical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
professor at Kosciuszko Gymnasium in Podgórze
Podgórze
Podgórze is a district of Kraków, Poland, situated on the right bank of the Vistula River. Initially a village at the foot of Lasota Hill was granted city status by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II in 1784 and has become Royal Free City of Podgorze...
.
In 1939 he joined the Polish Army and took part in the defense of Poland against the German invasion. He later explained to the Australian novelist Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
how he was wounded on the San River
San River
The San is a river in southeastern Poland and western Ukraine, a tributary of the Vistula River, with a length of 433 km and a basin area of 16,861 km2...
where his life was saved by his sergeant major
Sergeant Major
Sergeants major is a senior non-commissioned rank or appointment in many militaries around the world. In Commonwealth countries, Sergeants Major are usually appointments held by senior non-commissioned officers or warrant officers...
, who carried him to a field hospital
Field hospital
A field hospital is a large mobile medical unit that temporarily takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent hospital facilities...
.'The Handbag Studio' Granta Publications
Oskar Schindler
After the defeat of Poland and its partition between Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, Pfefferberg needed to decide to travel East or West. In his own words:
- "We officers had to decide to go east or west. I decided not to go east, even though I was Jewish. If I had, I would have been shot with all the other poor sons of bitches in Katyn ForestKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
."
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
, a Sudeten
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
-German businessman who was taking over an enamelware factory that had been confiscated from Jews. Schindler employed Pfefferberg's mother, an interior designer, to decorate his new apartment.
Through this connection Pfefferberg was employed in Schindler's factory near the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp outside Kraków. This enabled him to survive the extermination of 3 million Polish Jews, during which his parents, sister, brother-in-law and many other relatives were murdered. Pfefferberg described Schindler as "a modern Noah," who was able to save a number of Kraków Jews
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
from deportation to the nearby extermination camp at Auschwitz
Auschwitz concentration camp
Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...
. Those he saved became known as Schindlerjuden
Schindlerjuden
The Schindlerjuden, literally translated as "Schindler Jews", were roughly 1,000 to 1,200 Jews who were saved by Oskar Schindler during the Holocaust. Their story has been depicted in the book Schindler's Ark, by Thomas Keneally, and Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of the novel, Schindler's List...
or "Schindler's Jews".
In 1941 he married Ludmila Page (then Ludmila Lewison) with whom he would have two children.
He moved with Schindler and many others to a camp at Brünnlitz.
During these experiences he acquired skill as a welder
Welder
A welder is a tradesman who specializes in welding materials together. The materials to be joined can be metals or varieties of plastic or polymer...
.
Post-War
After the war Pfefferberg settled first in BudapestBudapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, then in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
where he organized a school for refugee children. In 1948 he emigrated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He and his wife settled in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, eventually opening a leather goods business in Beverly Hills. In the United States he used the name Leopold Page, although in later years he apparently reverted to Pfefferberg. He tried on a number of occasions to interest the screen-writers and film-makers he met through his business in a film based on the story of Schindler and his actions in saving Polish Jews from the Nazis, arranging several interviews with Schindler for American television. Schindler's death in 1974 seemed to end any possibility of a film.
In 1980 Pfefferberg met Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
in his shop, and, learning that he was a novelist, showed him his extensive files on Schindler. Keneally was interested, and Pfefferberg became an advisor for the book, accompanying Keneally to Poland where they visited Kraków and the sites associated with the Schindler story. Keneally dedicated Schindler's Ark to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written."
Pfefferberg explained the reasons behind his efforts to have the Schindler story told as:
- "Schindler gave me my life, and I tried to give him immortality."
After the publication of Schindler's Ark in 1982, Pfefferberg worked to persuade Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
to film Kenneally's book, using his acquaintance with Spielberg's mother to gain access. Pfefferberg claimed to have called Spielberg's office every week for 11 years. When in 1992 Spielberg agreed to make the film, Pfefferberg worked as an advisor, again making the trip to Poland to show Spielberg the sites, and he appears in the film's epilogue. Pfefferberg and his wife were Spielberg's guests on the night Schindler's List won seven Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
. In his acceptance speech Spielberg thanked "a survivor named Poldek Pfefferberg ... I owe him such a debt. He has carried the story of Oskar Schindler to all of us."
Pfefferberg was a founder of the Oskar Schindler Humanities Foundation, which recognises acts by individuals and organizations, regardless of race or nationality. He remarked on the Foundation:
- "Only when the foundation is a reality will I say I have fulfilled my obligation. Because when I am no longer here, when the Schindler Jews are not here, the foundation will still go on."
Pfefferberg died 9 March 2001, aged 87, in Beverly Hills. He is survived by his wife Mila, a son and daughter.
The original Schindler's list
In April 2009 a carbon copy of the original list (including 801 names) was found in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
among the documentation Thomas Keneally gave as a donation to the State Library of New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
.
See also
- Holocaust in PolandHolocaust in PolandThe Holocaust, also known as haShoah , was a genocide officially sanctioned and executed by the Third Reich during World War II. It took the lives of three million Polish Jews, destroying an entire civilization. Only a small percentage survived or managed to escape beyond the reach of the Nazis...
- Polish contribution to World War IIPolish contribution to World War IIThe European theater of World War II opened with the German invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939. The Polish Army was defeated after over a month of fighting. After Poland had been overrun, a government-in-exile , armed forces, and an intelligence service were established outside of Poland....
- Sikorski-Mayski AgreementSikorski-Mayski AgreementThe Sikorski–Mayski Agreement was a treaty between the Soviet Union and Poland signed in London on 30 July 1941. Its name was coined after the two most notable signatories: Polish Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski and Soviet Ambassador to the United Kingdom Ivan Mayski.- Details :After signing...
- United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumUnited States Holocaust Memorial MuseumThe United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
External links
Retrieved 8 September 2006.- BBC news report "Schindler's List found in Sydney"
- "Oskar? He was a God. Thomas Keneally tells how he stumbled on the story that became Schindler's List." The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. 18 June 2004.