Mietek Pemper
Encyclopedia
Mieczysław "Mietek" Pemper (March 24, 1920 – June 7, 2011) was a Polish
-born German
Holocaust survivor. Pemper helped compile and type Oskar Schindler
's now-famous list, which saved 1,200 people from being killed in the Holocaust during World War II
.
river on March 24, 1920. Pemper's immediate family consisted of himself, his parents, Jakub and Regina Pemper, along with his younger brother, Stefan Pemper. In Polish, "Mietek" is short for "Mieczysław", and his family and closest friends referred to him as such. From early childhood, Pemper was bilingual in Polish
and German
. He studied law at Jagiellonian University
and business administration at the Academy of Economics simultaneously. Jewish students were made to sit on separate seats and benches
while Pemper was a student at Jagiellonian.
invaded Poland in 1939. All Jews in Kraków
, including Pemper and his family, were required to wear Star of David
yellow badge
s by the Nazis. Pemper stayed at home as much as possible in protest against the badges. While spending most of his time in his family's apartment, Pemper decided to teach himself German stenography, since he had already learned German shorthand. Shortly after, Pemper and his family were soon confined to the Kraków Ghetto
, and was soon appointed by Nazi officials as a clerk
for the Judenrat
, the Kraków Ghetto's Jewish administration. Pemper also acted as a German-Polish interpreter for the Kraków Ghetto residents and typed up radio broadcasts from the BBC
.
The Kraków Ghetto
had started deportations by the end of 1942, and between March 13th through March 15th it was fully liquidated. Pemper was deported from the ghetto to Płaszów concentration camp. He was assigned as the personal secretary
and stenographer to Amon Göth
, Płaszów's notorious commandant
, due to his previous work at the Kraków Ghetto's Judenrat. Pemper's position as Göth's assistant gave him rare access to documents sent to Göth from Nazi authorities. By working in Göth's office, Pemper also became an acquaintance of Oskar Schindler
, an ethnic German businessman and industrialist with ties to the black market. At first, Schindler wanted to profit from the German invasion of Poland and when ensuing the war, Schindler had decided to opened an enamelware factory in Kraków using mostly Jewish labor. Itzhak Stern
, an accountant
and Pemper's closest friend in Göth's office, persuaded Pemper that Schindler could be trusted.
Pemper typed his first letter to Oskar Schindler in March 1943, without the knowledge that Schindler had sympathies for his Jewish workers. Through his work in the office, Pemper discovered in 1944 that the Nazis intended to close all factories not directly tied to the war effort, including Schindler's enamelware facility. The closures would likely mean that Płaszów's Jewish inmates would be deported to Auschwitz. Pemper personally alerted Schindler to the plans and persuaded him to switch production from enamelware to anti-tank grenade
s to save Schindler's workers. Pemper provided Schindler with as little information as possible, for fear that Schindler could possibly implicate him in the sharing of classified Nazi secrets that were retained in the Płaszów concentration camp's administrative office.
Pemper helped collaborate the now famous "Schindler's List" to save as many Jewish workers as possible. Pemper, in collaboration with Schindler and others in the Płaszów concentration camp including Itzhak Stern
, compiled and typed the list of over 1,000 Jewish inmates deemed "decisive for the Nazi war effort". Many on the list were personal Jewish workers for Schindler with additional names added just before the transport. Those on the list, including Pemper himself, were transferred to Schindler's new grenade factory located in Bruennlitz, Czechoslovakia
, in October 1944. This transfer ended up saving the lives of those who were put on the list. Schindler also included Pemper's father, mother and brother on the list. Pemper's mother Regina didn't make it to the new factory in Bruennlitz, because of her illness; she was left behind in Auschwitz and later liberated when the war had ended. At the end of the war, Oskar Schindler presented a speech to his Jewish factory workers stating: "Don’t thank me for your survival...Thank your valiant Stern and Pemper, who stared death in the face constantly."
Pemper testified against Amon Göth
at his September 1946 trial
in Kraków, Poland, following the end of the war.
, Bavaria
, in 1958 and became a German citizen. He worked as a management consultant and an intercultural activist, specifically focusing on Jewish-Christian relations and reconciliation
. He kept close contact with Oskar Schindler until his death in 1974.
He served as a consultant for Steven Spielberg
's 1993 film
, Schindler's List
. The movie minimized Pemper's role in collaborating with Schindler during the war. Spielberg sought to simplify the film's storyline by creating a composite character, portrayed by actor Ben Kingsley
, based on both Mietek Pemper and Itzhak Stern
. However, Pemper dismissed his diminished role in the film saying his accomplishment was not the list that was compiled and typed, but "the multifarious acts of resistance that, like tiny stones being placed into a mosaic one by one, had made the whole process possible," according to The Daily Telegraph
. Spielberg paid tribute to both Pemper and Stern outside of the film, calling them heroes. Pemper was portrayed by actor Grzegorz Kwas in the film.
Pemper's adopted city of Augsburg awarded him a civic medal in 2003. They further named him as an honorary citizen in 2007.
Pemper's first and only in depth Television interview in existence was conducted in Vienna, Austria June of 2005 by Uk Company Gigatel Cyf (Ltd). Pemper spoke at great length about his experience from childhood to the aftermath of the Shoah
experience at the Płaszów concentration camp under the wrath of Płaszów's Commandant Amon Leopold Göth. Pemper only agreed to conduct this interview after relentless pursuasion for over eighteen months by another Shoah survivor named Mr. Edward Mosberg, who was himself held captive at Płaszów, Mauthausen and Linz camps. The contents of this unique interview have yet to be viewed by the general public and includes testimony that was not included in his biography "The Road To Rescue"
Pemper died in Augsburg, Germany, on 7 June 2011, at the age of 91. He never married and left no close survivors. He was buried in Augsburg's Jewish cemetery and municipal flags were lowered to half-staff
in his honor. In tribute to Pemper, Augsburg's Mayor Kurt Gribl
said, "With Mietek Pemper, the city has lost an important builder of bridges between the Jewish and Christian religions and a contributor to reconciliation."
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
-born German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
Holocaust survivor. Pemper helped compile and type Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
's now-famous list, which saved 1,200 people from being killed in the Holocaust during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Early life
Pemper was born into a Jewish family in Kraków, Poland near the VistulaVistula
The Vistula is the longest and the most important river in Poland, at 1,047 km in length. The watershed area of the Vistula is , of which lies within Poland ....
river on March 24, 1920. Pemper's immediate family consisted of himself, his parents, Jakub and Regina Pemper, along with his younger brother, Stefan Pemper. In Polish, "Mietek" is short for "Mieczysław", and his family and closest friends referred to him as such. From early childhood, Pemper was bilingual in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
. He studied law at Jagiellonian University
Jagiellonian University
The Jagiellonian University was established in 1364 by Casimir III the Great in Kazimierz . It is the oldest university in Poland, the second oldest university in Central Europe and one of the oldest universities in the world....
and business administration at the Academy of Economics simultaneously. Jewish students were made to sit on separate seats and benches
Ghetto benches
Ghetto benches or bench Ghetto was a form of official segregation in the seating of students, introduced in Poland's universities beginning in 1935 at Lwow Polytechnic. By 1937, when this practice became conditionally legalized, most rectors at other higher education institutions had adopted this...
while Pemper was a student at Jagiellonian.
Płaszów and Oskar Schindler
Pemper was 19 years old when Nazi GermanyNazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
invaded Poland in 1939. All Jews in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, including Pemper and his family, were required to wear Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
yellow badge
Yellow badge
The yellow badge , also referred to as a Jewish badge, was a cloth patch that Jews were ordered to sew on their outer garments in order to mark them as Jews in public. It is intended to be a badge of shame associated with antisemitism...
s by the Nazis. Pemper stayed at home as much as possible in protest against the badges. While spending most of his time in his family's apartment, Pemper decided to teach himself German stenography, since he had already learned German shorthand. Shortly after, Pemper and his family were soon confined to the Kraków Ghetto
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
, and was soon appointed by Nazi officials as a clerk
Clerk
Clerk, the vocational title, commonly refers to a white-collar worker who conducts general office or, in some instances, sales tasks. It is also occasionally used to refer to third-year medical students completing a medical clerkship. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record...
for the Judenrat
Judenrat
Judenräte were administrative bodies during the Second World War that the Germans required Jews to form in the German occupied territory of Poland, and later in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union It is the overall term for the enforcement bodies established by the Nazi occupiers to...
, the Kraków Ghetto's Jewish administration. Pemper also acted as a German-Polish interpreter for the Kraków Ghetto residents and typed up radio broadcasts from the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
The Kraków Ghetto
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
had started deportations by the end of 1942, and between March 13th through March 15th it was fully liquidated. Pemper was deported from the ghetto to Płaszów concentration camp. He was assigned as the personal secretary
Secretary
A secretary, or administrative assistant, is a person whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, communication & organizational skills. These functions may be entirely carried out to assist one other employee or may be for the benefit...
and stenographer to Amon Göth
Amon Göth
Amon Leopold Göth was an Austrian Nazi and the commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Płaszów, General Government...
, Płaszów's notorious commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
, due to his previous work at the Kraków Ghetto's Judenrat. Pemper's position as Göth's assistant gave him rare access to documents sent to Göth from Nazi authorities. By working in Göth's office, Pemper also became an acquaintance of Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler
Oskar Schindler was an ethnic German industrialist born in Moravia. He is credited with saving over 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.He is the subject of the...
, an ethnic German businessman and industrialist with ties to the black market. At first, Schindler wanted to profit from the German invasion of Poland and when ensuing the war, Schindler had decided to opened an enamelware factory in Kraków using mostly Jewish labor. Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern was a Jewish accountant to German industrialist Oskar Schindler. He worked alongside Schindler as the accountant for his enamelware company in Kraków and greatly helped in running the company...
, an accountant
Accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accountancy or accounting , which is the measurement, disclosure or provision of assurance about financial information that helps managers, investors, tax authorities and others make decisions about allocating resources.The Big Four auditors are the largest...
and Pemper's closest friend in Göth's office, persuaded Pemper that Schindler could be trusted.
Pemper typed his first letter to Oskar Schindler in March 1943, without the knowledge that Schindler had sympathies for his Jewish workers. Through his work in the office, Pemper discovered in 1944 that the Nazis intended to close all factories not directly tied to the war effort, including Schindler's enamelware facility. The closures would likely mean that Płaszów's Jewish inmates would be deported to Auschwitz. Pemper personally alerted Schindler to the plans and persuaded him to switch production from enamelware to anti-tank grenade
Anti-tank grenade
An anti-tank grenade is a specialized explosive device to defeat heavily armored targets.-History:The first anti-tank grenades were improvised devices...
s to save Schindler's workers. Pemper provided Schindler with as little information as possible, for fear that Schindler could possibly implicate him in the sharing of classified Nazi secrets that were retained in the Płaszów concentration camp's administrative office.
Pemper helped collaborate the now famous "Schindler's List" to save as many Jewish workers as possible. Pemper, in collaboration with Schindler and others in the Płaszów concentration camp including Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern was a Jewish accountant to German industrialist Oskar Schindler. He worked alongside Schindler as the accountant for his enamelware company in Kraków and greatly helped in running the company...
, compiled and typed the list of over 1,000 Jewish inmates deemed "decisive for the Nazi war effort". Many on the list were personal Jewish workers for Schindler with additional names added just before the transport. Those on the list, including Pemper himself, were transferred to Schindler's new grenade factory located in Bruennlitz, Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, in October 1944. This transfer ended up saving the lives of those who were put on the list. Schindler also included Pemper's father, mother and brother on the list. Pemper's mother Regina didn't make it to the new factory in Bruennlitz, because of her illness; she was left behind in Auschwitz and later liberated when the war had ended. At the end of the war, Oskar Schindler presented a speech to his Jewish factory workers stating: "Don’t thank me for your survival...Thank your valiant Stern and Pemper, who stared death in the face constantly."
Pemper testified against Amon Göth
Amon Göth
Amon Leopold Göth was an Austrian Nazi and the commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Płaszów, General Government...
at his September 1946 trial
Trial
A trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
in Kraków, Poland, following the end of the war.
Later life
Pemper moved to the city of AugsburgAugsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
, Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
, in 1958 and became a German citizen. He worked as a management consultant and an intercultural activist, specifically focusing on Jewish-Christian relations and reconciliation
Reconciliation
Reconciliation may variously refer to:* Bank reconciliation* Truth and reconciliation commission-Religion:* Sacrament of Penance , also known as Reconciliation...
. He kept close contact with Oskar Schindler until his death in 1974.
He served as a consultant for Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
's 1993 film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Schindler's List
Schindler's List
Schindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
. The movie minimized Pemper's role in collaborating with Schindler during the war. Spielberg sought to simplify the film's storyline by creating a composite character, portrayed by actor Ben Kingsley
Ben Kingsley
Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE is a British actor. He has won an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards in his career. He is known for starring as Mohandas Gandhi in the film Gandhi in 1982, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, based on both Mietek Pemper and Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern
Itzhak Stern was a Jewish accountant to German industrialist Oskar Schindler. He worked alongside Schindler as the accountant for his enamelware company in Kraków and greatly helped in running the company...
. However, Pemper dismissed his diminished role in the film saying his accomplishment was not the list that was compiled and typed, but "the multifarious acts of resistance that, like tiny stones being placed into a mosaic one by one, had made the whole process possible," according to The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. Spielberg paid tribute to both Pemper and Stern outside of the film, calling them heroes. Pemper was portrayed by actor Grzegorz Kwas in the film.
Pemper's adopted city of Augsburg awarded him a civic medal in 2003. They further named him as an honorary citizen in 2007.
Pemper's first and only in depth Television interview in existence was conducted in Vienna, Austria June of 2005 by Uk Company Gigatel Cyf (Ltd). Pemper spoke at great length about his experience from childhood to the aftermath of the Shoah
Shoah
Shoah may refer to:*The Holocaust*Shoah , documentary directed by Claude Lanzmann * A Shoah Foundation...
experience at the Płaszów concentration camp under the wrath of Płaszów's Commandant Amon Leopold Göth. Pemper only agreed to conduct this interview after relentless pursuasion for over eighteen months by another Shoah survivor named Mr. Edward Mosberg, who was himself held captive at Płaszów, Mauthausen and Linz camps. The contents of this unique interview have yet to be viewed by the general public and includes testimony that was not included in his biography "The Road To Rescue"
Pemper died in Augsburg, Germany, on 7 June 2011, at the age of 91. He never married and left no close survivors. He was buried in Augsburg's Jewish cemetery and municipal flags were lowered to half-staff
Half-staff
Half-staff is the American term for to describe a flag flying a flag below the summit of the flagpole . The rest of the English-speaking world uses the term half-mast. Technically the flag should be flown one breadth lower to allow for the invisible flag of death...
in his honor. In tribute to Pemper, Augsburg's Mayor Kurt Gribl
Kurt Gribl
Kurt Gribl is currently the Mayor of Augsburg, Bavaria, an office he has held since May 1, 2008. He is a member of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.-References:...
said, "With Mietek Pemper, the city has lost an important builder of bridges between the Jewish and Christian religions and a contributor to reconciliation."