62 pages • 2 hours read
Thomas KeneallyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Oskar Schindler lived from 1908 to 1974. He was a Sudetendeutsche, meaning southern-land German. The Sudetendeutsche were ethnic Germans that lived in Czechoslovakia in scattered pockets and made up a significant minority of the population. Schindler joined the Sudeten German Party (SGP) of Czechoslovakia in 1935 at the age of 27. (For more on the Sudetendeutsche and the Sudeten German Party, see Index of Terms.) The SGP pushed for the annexation of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany under the Munich agreement and thus was partly responsible for the Nazis’ crimes in the region. Schindler, like many Sudetendeutsches, joined the party on a wave of ultra-nationalist fervor for a united “homeland” for all German peoples. The SGP and the resulting Munich Agreement were responsible for the validation of the Nazi Lebensraum ideology. Nazi Germany’s ability to implement Lebensraum in the Sudetenland galvanized it to annex more territory for German colonialism.
Thomas Keneally doesn’t explore Schindler’s time in the SGP, yet Schindler’s membership in the party is the sole reason for his stint as an Abwehr spy and his membership in the Nazi party as a respected official.
By Thomas Keneally
Books Made into Movies
View Collection
Books on Justice & Injustice
View Collection
Challenging Authority
View Collection
Contemporary Books on Social Justice
View Collection
Good & Evil
View Collection
Guilt
View Collection
Hate & Anger
View Collection
Historical Fiction
View Collection
Immigrants & Refugees
View Collection
Inspiring Biographies
View Collection
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
View Collection
Memorial Day Reads
View Collection
Military Reads
View Collection
Politics & Government
View Collection
Power
View Collection
Safety & Danger
View Collection
School Book List Titles
View Collection
Sexual Harassment & Violence
View Collection
Sociology
View Collection
The Booker Prizes Awardees & Honorees
View Collection
War
View Collection
World War II
View Collection