Schindler's Grave

Today, after four months here in Jerusalem, I finally made it to one of the places I had most wanted to go to when I arrived here: Oskar Schindler's grave. My friend Stacey and I left the student village, hopped on the light rail, and headed for the Old City. We entered through Jaffa Gate and then worked our way over to Zion Gate, which exits onto Mount Zion. The Christians have turned Mount Zion into a Christian enclave, with churches celebrating the Last Supper, Pentecost, and Mary's death, all of which occurred on Mount Zion (the Catholics also believe that Mary rose again after three days, but we won't get into that). Schindler is buried on Mount Zion in a little cemetery off of the road leading to Zion Gate. The entrance to the cemetery has a marker saying "To Oskar Schindler's Grave" above the doorway, so it was easy to find once we knew the general area. I have to say, I thought this cemetery would be better maintained, but when we went inside, we were met with tall grass, weeds, broken glass, and damaged masonry everywhere. Schindler's grave is down a couple flights of steps, overlooking the great views to the south of Jerusalem from the top of Mount Zion. In the movie "Schindler's List", the scene where the survivors gathered at his grave to pay their respects show his grave by itself, with plenty of room around it for people to walk around. In the years since the movie came out, however, new graves have been added, with the result that now Schindler's grave is one among many. It sits right next to the path though, so visitors can access it without difficulty. The grave itself is beautiful, and it pays tribute to the amazing man. A caption under his name in German tells the visitor that he saved 1200 Jews during the Holocaust. Those of us who have seen Schindler's List know the incredible story of a German industrialist who bought up Jewish factories at bargain prices, used Jews as his labor force, and through work permits saved many Jews from the gas chambers. Granted, when he started out, Schindler was in it for the money, using Jews as workers because they were cheaper than Poles. Over time, however, as the horrors of the Holocaust became clear, Schindler used Jews as his laborers to save their lives. He used his vast fortune to bribe Nazi officials, get Jews out of the death camps, expand his factories to hire more Jewish workers, and countless other initiatives that saved Jewish lives at a time when no one would help them. Liam Neeson played the role of Schindler brilliantly in the movie, and why he didn't win the Oscar for it is beyond me. Ever since seeing that movie in Dr. Hammerling's class last semester at Concordia and learning that Schindler was buried in Jerusalem, I have wanted to visit his grave and pay tribute to the man. Today, I finally got that chance. In Israel, people put rocks on graves as a memorial and tribute to the fallen. I got to put a rock on Schindler's grave today, and said a silent prayer thanking God for such an extraordinary man and for his extraordinary contribution to the Jewish people during the darkest chapter of their history.