(JTA) — Personal possessions of German businessman Oskar Schindler, who saved the lives of more than 1,200 Jews he employed in his factory during the Holocaust, sold for more than $46,000.
The items – his Longines wristwatch, a compass, a 1938 Sudetenland Medal, two fountain pens, and a business card – were sold as a lot on Thursday by the Boston-based RR Auction, for more than the $25,000 it was expected to attract.
The items were from the estate of Schindler’s wife, Emilie, who died in 2001, according to the auction house.
The compass is said to have been used by Oskar and Emilie Schindler while fleeing Russian troops and heading for American occupied territory in 1945. The Sudetenland Medal was awarded to all German officials and members of the Wehrmacht and SS who marched into Sudetenland, and it was later awarded to military personnel participating in the occupation of the remnants of Czechoslovakia. Schindler had aided in the annexation and occupation of the Sudetenland as a spy for the German government.
“It’s an amazing archive of Schindler’s personal belongings,” Bobby Livingston, executive VP at RR Auction, told reporters. “Schindler struggled in everything he ever did before and after the war, so we are thrilled with the international media attention and honored to have had the opportunity to share his story.”
Schindler’s story was told in the 1982 novel “Schindler’s Ark” by Australian author Thomas Keneally and was the subject of Steven Spielberg’s film “Schindler’s List” in 1993 that won seven Academy Awards.
