History professor David Crowe spoke with ABC News after an auction for one of Oskar Schindler’s lists failed to draw any bidders.
From the article posted on ABCNews.com:
“Schindler, a factory owner and member of the Nazi Party, saved more than 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factory. His employees were documented on lists made famous in Thomas Keneally’s book, “Schindler’s List,” the basis for Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film. Those on the lists were saved from deportation to concentration camps.
The list that was up for auction contains 801 male names and is dated April 8, 1945.
David Crowe, a Holocaust historian and the author of the book, “Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities, and the True Story Behind the List,” said that the date of the list may be one reason it did not receive any bids.
Crowe said that the film depicted the first two lists ever created, in the fall of 1944. He only views those lists as the “lists of life,” as they are called in the film. The subsequent lists — including this one — were simply updates of the original lists. They are not worth $3 million, he said.
“When they say ‘Schindler’s list,’ it’s almost like they are using the romance of the original list and the magic of that to sell what was prepared at the end of the war,” said Crowe. “This list is far less valuable.”
Crowe is one of Elon’s most prolific scholars and was named the first recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award in 2000. His biography of Schindler in 2004 received worldwide acclaim for its groundbreaking view of a historical figure.