- Poldek Pfefferberg
Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg, (
20 March 1913 –9 March 2001 ), also known as Leopold Page, [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r103:E21AP4-404: HON. TOM LANTOS, in the House of Representatives.21 April , 1994] Library of Congress. Retrieved8 September 2006 .] was a Polish-Jewish-AmericanHolocaust survivor who inspired the Australian writerThomas Keneally to write theBooker prize -winning novel "Schindler's Ark ", which in turn was the basis forSteven Spielberg 's film "Schindler's List ".Early life
Pfefferberg was born into a
Jewish family inKraków ,Austro-Hungarian Empire . He gained a masters degree inphilosophy andphysical education from theJagiellonian University , Kraków. He then became a high-schoolteacher in Kraków until 1939. [ [http://www.auschwitz.dk/Panzuck/id4.htm Poldek Pfefferberg - A Schindler Survivor] Louis Bülow, www.auschwitz.dk. Retrieved8 September 2006 . ]In 1939 he joined the Polish Army and took part in the defence of Poland against the German invasion. He later explained to the Australian novelist
Thomas Keneally how he was wounded on theSan River where his life was saved by his sergeant major, who carried him to a field hospital. [http://www.granta.com/Magazine/86/The-Handbag-Studio 'The Handbag Studio'] Granta Publications] Prior to this Pfefferberg had been the physical education professor at Kosciuszko Gymnasium inPodgórze .Oskar Schindler
After the defeat of Poland and its partition between
Nazi Germany and theSoviet Union , 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 bitch in Katyn Forest."As a prisoner at
Płaszów , near Kraków, [ [http://www.mondakheritagecenter.org/hist_pgs/his_spec.htm Schindler Exhibition] Retrieved8 September 2006. ] Pfefferberg used a German-issued document to visit his soldiers in a military hospital, and also to visit his mother. In this way he metOskar 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 German extermination of the 3 million Polish Jews, during which his parents, sister, brother-in-law and many other relatives perished. Pfefferberg described Schindler as "a modern Noah," although in fact he was able to save only a relatively small number of Kraków Jews from deportation to the nearbyextermination 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. [ [http://www.unr.edu/chgps/press/1995/article4.htm Fighting Prejudice Through Education is Topic of Speech] Joshua Ruppert,
4 April 1995 . Retrieved8 September 2006 . ]He moved with Schindler and many others to a camp at
Brinnlitz .During these experiences he acquired skill as a
welder .Post-War
After the war Pfefferberg settled first in
Budapest , then inMunich where he organized a school for refugee children. In 1948 he emigrated to theUnited States . He and his wife settled inLos Angeles , eventually opening a leather goods business inBeverly 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::"Schindler gave me my life, and I tried to give him immortality." [ [http://www.oskarschindler.com/19.htm Poldek Pfefferberg] www.oskarschindler.com. Retrieved
8 September 2006 . ]After the publication of "Schindler's Ark" in 1982, [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,565826,00.html Emilie Schindler] Kate Connolly, Guardian Unlimited,
9 October 2001 . Retrieved8 September 2006 . ] Pfefferberg worked to persuadeSteven 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 sevenAcademy 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."
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