The evolution of Oscar Schindler was dramatic.50 He was a German born in Czechoslovakia who, although not a committed Nazi, became a member of the Nazi Party. An opportunist, he followed the German army into Poland in 1939, took over a confiscated Jewish factory, and proceeded to enrich himself with Jewish slave labor.
But contrary to others in this position, in many ways he treated Jews who worked for him like human beings. He indulged in small acts of kindness and consideration, followed by more significant acts. To protect his Jewish slave laborers from the dangers of their brutal camp, he created his own camp. He began to endanger his own life in order to help and continued to help even after he was arrested and released. As the Russians approached, he moved the laborers to his hometown in Czechoslovakia and set up a factory that produced nothing but served as camouflage to protect the Jews. Eventually, he sacrificed all his possessions while saving the lives of twelve hundred Jews.
Schindler’s intense sympathy for Jews was evidenced in many acts, one of which stands out because it was so uncharacteristic of this elegant dandy and bon vivant. Once when he visited his “friend,” Amos Goeth, the commandant of the camp at Plaszow, a train filled with Jews was standing by in the burning sun. Terrible sounds of distress and pain emanated from it. Schindler grabbed a nearby hose and started to water down the wagons, to the tolerant amusement of the SS guards.
Raoul Wallenberg was a Swede, a citizen of a country that was neutral in the Second World War.51 His example shows the multiplicity of experiences and influences that at times join in leading to extreme altruism. He had a Hungarian business partner whose relatives were in immediate danger. He knew the relatives from business trips to Hungary, so he had a personal connection to people in need. His familiarity with Hungary also gave him some competence. While working in Palestine, he had seen refugees arriving from Hitler’s Germany; this direct contact with victims must have contributed to his concern and caring. He was asked to go to Hungary by representatives of the American War Refugee Board; this request may have helped to define for him what was right and activate important values. Finally, Wallenberg was one-sixteenth Jewish.
Wallenberg was a member of a poor branch of an influential Swedish family. He had wide experience in work and travel under the guidance of his diplomat grandfather. At one point, his grandfather urged him to join the family bank, but he refused. Later his grandfather died, his connection to the family was weakened, and when he changed his mind, he was not allowed to join the bank. His work as a partner in an export-import firm was less than fulfilling for him. Because he was not fully involved in pursuing a goal important to him, he was more open to other goals; the request was more likely to activate a desire or obligation to help.
In Hungary he started to help by creating a document, impressive from the bureaucratic standpoint but of questionable validity, that gave thousands protection. He threatened, bribed, and cajoled high-level Hungarian officials. He personally intervened in many ways that required great courage, exposing himself to assassination attempts and the guns of Nazi guards. He showed great courage and self-confidence in dealing with Nazi officials, including Eichmann. His sense of invulnerability may have been inspired by his aristocratic background. Wallenberg and Schindler developed total commitment to saving Jewish lives. These men may be regarded as “good fanatics,” people with an overriding commitment to a goal to which they subordinated all others. Their aim was not to improve “humanity” but to help human beings.
In conditions of extreme danger, people need support to evolve and maintain the motivation to help. As they begin to help, they also begin to create their own environment, their own context. They build connections to a community that supports them. Schindler was supported by the people he helped and also by outside contacts he made through his actions in behalf of Jews. For example, a delegation of Hungarian Jews asked him to come to Hungary to convince the skeptical Jewish community there of the existence of the camps and killing operations. This had to reinforce and support his identity as an ally, a helper of Jews; acceding to the request contributed to his evolution. As I wrote elsewhere, many rescuers were connected to “an elaborate network of people, required for the practical aspects of helping, but in my view also essential in giving emotional support and confirmation.”52
Because the potential power of bystanders is great, so is their obligation, an obligation only occasionally fulfilled. How can we enlarge compassion, the awareness of responsibility for other lives, and the feeling of obligation to act? These questions are considered in Part IV.53
a A striking claim by the sixty- to seventy-five-year-old Germans was that they knew nothing about the persecution of the Jews until Kristallnacht, in 1938. (Only one woman clearly acknowledged prior knowledge: she reported that her father, who rented out rooms, was directed by the authorities not to rent to Jews.) In conflict with this claim, some of them expressed the belief that the German people accepted the anti-Jewish actions. Given the highly public persecution, the perhaps “tentative” awareness might mean false reporting or psychological defense, but probably reflects lack of concern. In the overall context of the period, the fate of the Jews was unimportant to people, especially to youth, and probably barely penetrated awareness.
b Some have suggested that one reason for the refusal to believe early reports about the killing of Jews was their similarity to reports about German atrocities in World War I. World War I reports were mostly propaganda. However, this is a partial explanation
