Oskar Schindler, page 69
On the other hand, Oskar continued to look to the Joint as his benefactor and had no qualms about going back to the Joint again and again over the next four years for financial resources to live in Argentina and ultimately return to Germany to pursue his Lastenausgleich claims. Yet it is interesting that no one had any way of knowing who had originally owned the two factories Oskar had acquired during the war. If Joint officials had been aware that Oskar had taken over Aryanized Jewish property or that there would be charges of brutality leveled against him by Jewish Holocaust survivors, perhaps they would not have been as eager to help him. In fact, the principal accuser against Schindler, Nathan Wurzel, had first written to the Joint in Paris in the fall of 1951 under his new Israeli name, Antoni Korzeniowski, about Oskar’s whereabouts. But instead of accusing Schindler of brutality, he said that he wanted to find him so that Oskar could help him locate his “lost relatives.”27
It would be almost a year before Joint officials heard again from Oskar Schindler. On September 21, 1954, Oskar paid a visit to Joint offices in Buenos Aires, where he discussed with Moses Leavitt, the international head of the Joint, who was visiting the Argentine capital, the possibility of the Joint’s granting him a two-year loan of $5,000 against a second mortgage on his property in San Vicente. Jacobo Murmis, who was still a partner in Oskar and Emilie’s nutria farm, strongly backed the idea and said the loan would be “amply covered.” Leavitt said he would agree to recommend the loan to the Joint’s executive committee in New York only if Oskar took out a third mortgage on the property and agreed to pay it back in two years. With only one dissenting vote, the committee approved the loan because of Schindler’s “assistance to so many of the people in whom [they] were interested.” The only stipulation was that the third mortgage had to be in Murmis’s name. On October 14, 1954, the Joint office in Buenos Aires gave Oskar Arg$130,000, the equivalent of $5,000. But when it came time to repay the loan two years later, Oskar was unable to do so because, Murmis explained, he had “economic difficulties” and had not yet received his “Widergutmachung [reparations] from Germany, which he [had] been awaiting for such a long time.” Murmis advised the Joint to give Oskar a ten-month payment extension on the loan, which it did, though he also asked Joint officials in New York for an explanatory letter about the nature of the loan so that he would not to have to pay Argentine income taxes on the $5,000. Because Oskar never did repay the loan, he seriously damaged his relationship with Murmis; it seems that he even blamed Murmis for some of his financial difficulties.28
For all practical purposes, the scheme to farm and raise poultry and nutria had failed and the Schindlers were deeply in debt. At the end of 1955, Itzhak Stern, now acting as Oskar’s “general attorney,” received this letter from Schindler:
[My] farm has produced great debts, which I could balance out during normal times.
But agriculture is first of all a business with the good Lord, dependent on numerous factors, and second, there is only one harvest per year, which means that I have a very low capital flow. Necessary investments with extremely high interest rates were not successful. At least my wife enjoys animals, which makes the work a little more fun for her. Due to the enormously high social and food costs I gave up breeding poultry three years ago and have focused solely on the breeding of nutria. But even with nutria the relation between costs and sale prices is getting worse every year. Three months ago I began preliminary plans to sell half the farm as construction land to ease my debts. But the plans of the revolutionary [Argentine] government to devalue the peso will delay this sale of the property and the construction of apartments on it for several months. Right now everything seems paralyzed though my duties and obligations go on.29
Oskar frustratingly added that had he “been lazy over the past six years instead of working hard, [he] probably would not even have one third” of his current debts. Yet he also seemed willing to accept some of the blame for his financial problems. He explained that though he had no control over the Argentine economic crisis, which included the devaluation of the peso, he “should have long ago given up this occupation [farming], which kills your intelligence.” He added, “I should have looked for a better way to earn a living.”30 In another letter to Stern the following spring, Oskar expressed frustration over his “isolation and mind-killing inactivity.” But he hoped that his “good star” would soon be in the ascent. But what bothered him most was his “powerlessness” in confronting his most basic problems.31
But Oskar’s failures in Argentina could not be solely blamed on the government or the economy. After Schindler died in Hildesheim in Germany in the fall of 1974, a memorial service was held for him in Frankfurt before his body was shipped to Israel for burial. When the service was over, Mietek Pemper approached one of the Argentine Schindler Jews and asked him how they could have let Oskar lose everything in Argentina. The Schindler Jew responded, “You cannot reprimand us for the fact that there were people in Buenos Aires who could play poker much better than Oskar Schindler.”32
Oskar’s financial situation continued to deteriorate during his last months in Argentina and, on November 20, 1956, he wrote another letter to Stern: “I am at the end and only a quick partial payment of my claim against the Federal Republic can save me.”33 Once again, his Schindler Jews came to his rescue. On January 23, 1957, Roma Horowitz and five Schindler Jews asked Sidney Nelson, now the head of Joint operations in Buenos Aires, to forward a letter they had written to Moses Leavitt in New York, further explaining Oskar’s desperate financial situation and asking for more help. Schindler, they explained, had been living for the past few years “under really impossible and not–to–be borne circumstances.” When he arrived in Argentina, he was “badly advised” on how best to invest the money he had received from the Joint and now stood “on the brink of a complete bankruptcy.” Consequently, despite his willingness to work, Schindler was “totally unable to pay the enormous overheads and taxes from what he makes.” His relationship with his former partner, Jacobo Murmis, was now over “since it [had] brought nothing but losses through the years.” The only option open to Schindler at this point was to sell what remaining land he owned, which was impossible “due to the circumstances” current in Argentina. If Oskar could sell his land, the Schindler Jews wrote, then he could go to West Germany where he was supposed to receive “a great deal of money” from the Lastenausgleich fund. But he would need considerable travel and living funds and, consequently, the group asked the Joint to loan Oskar another $2,000 to help him make the trip. Oskar would repay this money as soon as he received his Lastenaus-gleich money. If they could, they explained, they would loan Oskar the money themselves but they simply did not have it. At the same time, they argued, $2,000 was “really a very small sum in comparison to what Mr. Schindler did to save so many of [them].” They went on to say that the “Jewry of the whole world and especially the thousand . . . whom he saved will undoubtedly be proud to know that it [the Joint] helped such a man and saved him from an extremely unpleasant fate.”34
Several months later, Nelson informed New York of conversations he subsequently had with Murmis and several other Jews in Buenos Aires who knew Oskar well. They said that the Joint should not loan him any more because he might“use the money for some other purpose and fail to carry out his intended mission.” They also told Nelson that Schindler had “a history of obvious financial irresponsibility.” On the other hand, Mur-mis and others suggested that the Joint consider buying Schindler a roundtrip airplane ticket to Germany and give him $200 to $300 for expenses. And even though they questioned Oskar’s handling of money, they reminded Nelson of his “invaluable service” to fellow Jews during the Holocaust and of the “many friends who [had] been calling insistently on his behalf.” As the Joint had gone this far with Schindler, they thought it should do everything reasonably possible to help him settle his claim.35
In late April 1957, Moses Leavitt told Nelson that he had talked to Mr. Mirelman, a prominent Jewish leader whom Oskar had also contacted about the loan. Oskar asked Mirelman, who was evidently quite fond of Schindler, “to press the request upon [the Joint]” and also to let him visit the United States on his return trip from Germany. Oskar told Mirelman that he hoped to stop off in Venezuela on his way back from Germany to see whether he “could do something in that country.” Leavitt added that Nelson should tell Mr. Schindler that the Joint could not keep making loans to him, though it was prepared to help him with his trip to Germany if he could provide the Joint with information regarding the status of his Lastenausgleich claim. But Leavitt also wanted to determine whether there was any need for Oskar to go to Germany. If so, he was ready to ask URO lawyers to look into Schindler’s claim and determine whether they could help him win settlement sooner. But nothing more could be done until Oskar gave them an update on his Lastenausgleich application.36
Nelson informed Oskar of Leavitt’s request and Schindler sent Leavitt a copy of the Lastenausgleich application that had been sent by several Schindlerjuden to Dr. Theodor Heuss, the president of the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation (Gesellschaft Christlich-Jüdischer Zusam-menarbeit), and the first president of the Federal Republic of Germany. Other than Konrad Adenauer, Heuss was West Germany’s most prominent elder statesman. Oskar told Leavitt that he had also approached Dr. Nahum Goldmann, the president of the Claims Conference and the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, about the matter. When Schindler later met Goldmann in Buenos Aires, he gave Oskar a letter of introduction to present to Felix von Eckhardt, the chief of the press and information service of the West German government.37 It stated that Schindler had become “an outright legendary figure among many Jewish refugees” because of his efforts to help them during the war. He mentioned Oskar’s stalled claims efforts and asked Eckhardt to do everything he could to help him, particularly in regard to connections in Bonn. Separately, Gold-mann told Schindler he would do whatever was necessary to help his case when the Jewish leader was in Germany that summer. Because of this, Oskar concluded that it was urgent for him to go to Germany as quickly as possible. In a May 11, 1957, letter to Moses Leavitt, Oskar said he needed a loan from the Joint to get there. He added that he now planned to stop in the United States on his way to Germany but assured Leavitt that it would not cost that much more to make this side trip.38
From what we can gather from Oskar’s private papers, the United Restitution Office was now handling Oskar’s application. On March 30, 1955, the Compensation Office (Ausgleichsamt) in Regensburg had written Dr. H. Wolf, of the URO’s office in Munich, and reminded him that Schindler had to be a resident of West Germany or West Berlin by December 31, 1950. In addition, Schindler was not registered at the local refugee office as an exiled person and had emigrated to Argentina on September 7, 1949. Consequently, he did not meet any of the residency criteria under the Lastenausgleich law for compensation. This, of course, did not prevent Oskar from continuing to press his case. In the fall of 1956, he forwarded a new set of application forms to Dr. Wolf in the URO office in Munich. When he heard nothing back, he again enlisted the help of Schindlerjuden in Argentina, which prompted the January 28, 1957, letter to Dr. Heuss in Bonn.39
This letter, which was signed by Roma and Edmund Horowitz as well as nine other Schindler Jews from Buenos Aires, went into detail about Oskar’s aid to Jews during the war. The authors included a copy of the May 8, 1945, letter given to him by prominent Brünnlitz Jews and also mentioned Emilie’s sacrifices and good deeds. What was so impressive about Schindler’s efforts, the letter noted, was not the money he spent to save Jews or the danger to his own person. It was his consistent aid to Jews throughout the war. Oskar was, they explained, more determined to protect his Jews until liberation than to “bring his life and wealth to safety.” For the past two years, the Schindler Jews wrote, he had lived without income and it was only through the efforts of the Joint that he was now able to return to Germany to press his Lastenausgleich claim. Unfortunately, despite the support of the Joint and the URO, his claim was tied up with “the usual bureaucratic rhythm” at the Regensburg refugee office. The Schindler Jews pleaded with Dr. Heuss to do everything he could to push Oskar’s case to conclusion. They argued that it was essential to do whatever possible to help this “deserving man, who in the most dangerous time showed extraordinary heroism.” It was important that he no longer be allowed “to vegetate in a catastrophic and shameful situation, without hope, in the shadow of [Germany’s] economic miracle.”40
In the meantime, the Joint continued to investigate the status of Oskar’s claim through the URO in Munich. In June, the Joint bought him a round-trip airline ticket with a stopover in New York. In addition, the Joint also gave him about $750 in pocket money. Oskar flew to New York in mid-June, where he spent almost three weeks with Schindler Jews there, and arrived in Frankfurt in early July. Within a few weeks, he was out of money and called Dr. Katzenstein, who was now working with the Claims Conference in Frankfurt. He told Dr. Katzenstein that he had arrived in Germany with only $400 in his pocket and was now down to $100. Dr. Katzenstein had helped Oskar quite a lot and had introduced him to Dr. Heuss and the Minister of Finance. He was also convinced that Oskar would soon receive his Lastenausgleich payment but needed some money to tide him over until he received it. Dr. Katzenstein called the Claims Conference about Schindler and they said that they could not help him. The Claims Conference suggested that Dr. Katzenstein contact the Joint, as it had already helped Oskar quite a bit. Officials at the Claims Conference also thought it might embarrass “Mr. Schindler if he were to be assisted by another organization.”41
Oskar came to the Joint office in Frankfurt on August 6, 1957, and explained his predicament to officials there. He stated that he had left Argentina with $1,000 and arrived in Germany with only $400, meaning that he had spent $600 while in the United States. He added that he “had left his wife without money and he had to send her $100.” What he wanted was a loan of DM 1,000 ($238), which he would repay when he received his Lastenausgleich payment, which he expected in a few months. He added that it had cost him about $400 to live during his first month in Germany and thought that DM 1,000 would get him through the next few months. Joint officials decided to grant Oskar the loan, which he agreed to pay back in three months.42
Needless to say, Schindler did not repay the loan because his Laste-nausgleich payment was delayed. Furthermore, several months later he cashed in the return portion of his KLM ticket that the Joint had bought for him. And by January 1958, he was broke again and approached the Joint for another loan. But this time he at least had confirmation from his attorney, Dr. Alexander Besser, that he had been approved for a minimum Lastenausgleich payment of DM 50,000 ($11,905). Moreover, Dr. Katzenstein had now become Oskar’s advocate and his story began to appear in publications such as Reader’s Digest and the Catholic Digest. This was probably because of the publicity he got in the New York Times, The Forward, and other American publications while he was in New York in June. His trip to New York was also picked up by the Sudeten German Der Sudetendeutsche and other German publications. He stayed with Henry and Manci Rosner while in New York and held a press conference at Joint headquarters there. Slowly, Oskar Schindler was becoming famous. He was also becoming accustomed to the adoration of his Schindler Jews, who were vocal about his deeds and current plight.43
Consequently, after considerable discussion, the Joint approved a new loan of DM 1,200 DM ($286), which would be paid back in two installments with the proviso that this would be the last loan that it gave Oskar Schindler. But two months later, Dr. Katzenstein and Schindler’s attorney, Dr. Besser, approached the Joint again about a new loan. Given the large amount of money that the Joint had loaned or given him over the years, it is not surprising that his request was turned down. Moreover, Oskar never repaid any of the loans that the Joint gave him between 1954 and 1958. In the end, the Joint simply had to absorb these losses. Yet it did not sever its ties with Schindler and still intervened on his behalf the following year when Jacobo Murmis tried to foreclose on the two mortgages he had on Schindler’s property in Argentina.44
The Struggle to Succeed in Germany
The Lastenausgleich program was set up in West Germany to compensate Germans who had lost property during the war; ultimately, it paid out more than DM 140 billion ($93,000,000,000) in compensation, much of it in pensions. It was not designed to pay for full property loss and payments. Full restitution was available only for those with claims of DM 5,000 ($3,300); large claims such as Schindler’s would receive only a small percentage of their actual property loss. Needless to say, West German Lastenausgleich officials reduced Oskar’s initial claim of DM 5,256,400 ($1,251,524) substantially after he filed his claim. Between 1962 and 1968, the West German government gave him DM 177,651 ($42,298). According to Oskar, about two thirds of this money went to pay off his debts or his legal fees. What remained, about DM 50,000 ($11,905), was credited to him to help buy a new factory. His estate received another DM 10,886 ($4,252) after his death to cover various expenses, and Emilie received a final payment of DM 18,541.88 ($7,243) from the West German government two years after Oskar’s death.45
Oskar was too young for a Lastenausgleich pension in 1957, so the only way he could be compensated for his losses was through the purchase of a bankrupt business with a loan guaranteed by the Lastenaus-gleich bank in Bad Godesberg.46 Most of the deals fell through, and the one business he finally succeeded in acquiring in 1962 quickly failed. These failures compounded the tragedy of Oskar Schindler’s postwar life and left him devastated.
