Worker’s badge from the Rekord enamel factory in Krakow - the factory rented by Oskar Schindler in 1939 and used by him to rescue thousands of Polish Jews from the Nazis. [Krakow, ca. 1937-1939].
Round metal badge, painted orange, with the inscription “Rekord” and the identification number 7533. Pin on reverse.
Following the occupation of Poland by the Nazis, in 1939, the city of Krakow began to attract German entrepreneurs who sought to exploit the new financial opportunities offered by the occupied territory. One of these entrepreneurs was Oskar Schindler, who arrived in the city a short time after the occupation and took control of a factory for the production of enamelware, formerly under Jewish ownership [he also changed the factory’s name from Rekord to Die Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (“The German Enamelware Factory”)]. Within a short while Schindler turned to factory into a successful business. The factory supplied kitchenware to the German army, and the high demand contributed to its prosperity. In 1942 the factory employed about 800 workers, 370 of them Jews. The persecution of Jews and the organized terror tactics to which they were publicly subjected during this period brought on a change in Schindler, and he began to act for their rescue. To this end he exploited the position of the enamel factory as vital for the war effort - a position that granted him the protection of the German Army authorities, with whom he signed contracts, thereby enabling him to recruit more and more Jewish workers from the ghetto in order to fulfill his contractual obligations. When his Jewish workers were threatened with deportation and transfer to concentration and death camps, he succeeded, with much effort, to obtain exemptions for them. Schindler was questioned a number of times under suspicion of unseemly conduct and preference of Jews, but each time was released and resumed his activities to save Jews. In 1943 Schindler met with Israel Kastner and Shmuel Springman and handed them a detailed report of the genocide in Poland, and particularly in Auschwitz. In 1967 Schindler was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations”. His story was made famous in Steven Spielberg’s film “The Schindler List”, which won an Oscar for Best Film of 1993.
Diameter: 37 mm. Good condition. Color chipping.