Student Life
Chapel
Chapel Talks
Altruism, Redemption, and Forgiveness
A story of two heroes.
Today I will tell the story of two heroes, beginning with Oskar Schindler. Schindler was born on April 28, 1908, in the present-day Czech Republic, known then as Czechoslovakia. After high school, he passed up an opportunity to go to college in favor of trade school, a form of university for aspiring businessmen. He dropped out of trade school in 1924 and made a living doing odd jobs while pondering his purpose in life. He joined a local pro-Nazi organization after the Nazis took power in Germany in 1933, hoping to gain favor in the powerful party. Before the Germans gained possession of Czechoslovakia in 1938, Schindler made a living selling information about Czechoslovakia to the Germans. In fact, he was caught and charged with espionage, and sentenced to death by the Czechoslovakian government.
Meanwhile, about 650 miles north, another hero’s story was beginning to unfold. Raoul Gustaf Wallenberg was born in Sweden on August 4, 1912. His grandmother and mother were both widows; they decided to raise Raoul together. After high school, he served in the Swedish military then traveled to the United States and attended college. In 1936, Wallenberg found a job in Sweden at a trade company owned by a Hungarian Jew.
In Germany, a storm was brewing. In 1933, the leader of the Nazi Party named Adolf Hitler took absolute power. In 1935, his government passed legislation called the Nuremberg Race Laws, which prevented marriage between Jews and non-Jews and also put restrictions on Jewish property and civil rights. This was only the beginning of his persecution of the Jews. Over the course of the mid- to late 1930s, the Nazis began to send Jews to concentration camps. When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, World War II began. After Germany annexed northern Czechoslovakia, Schindler was released from prison. He became a part of a German intelligence organization and moved to Poland. There, he became involved in the black-market arms-trading business. In Nazi-controlled Poland, Jewish-owned businesses were being “Germanized.” One such business was a factory bought by Schindler. After the liquidation of the Krakow ghetto and the transfer of Jews from a nearby camp in early 1943, there were over a thousand Jewish workers at his factory.
At some point during the war, Schindler realized the great error in the Nazis’ way. There is no specific record as to why Schindler changed his mind. Evidently it was an eye-opening realization for him, and he began to work secretly against the Nazis. In late 1944, a Nazi-run military organization called the SS began pressuring Schindler to let them deport the Jews in his factory. To counter this pressure, Schindler added a munitions division to his factory, claiming the factory was essential to the war effort. Soon, Schindler allowed Jewish workers to stay overnight in the factory. Then he allowed 500 neighboring Jewish workers to sleep there. In 1944, the factory was relocated to Czechoslovakia. To continue protecting the Jews, Schindler gave the SS a list of workers who were “essential” to the running of the factory. Through bribes and exertions of his power, Schindler assured the survival of 1,200 Jews. One might say it was in his interest to keep these Jews alive so they could work in his factory. But, because of all the bribes he made to officials and secret police, Schindler was penniless after the war. His life was miserable. He separated from his wife and lived alone in poverty in Germany until his death in 1974.
Now Wallenberg: In 1938, following the Nazis, Hungary began to restrict Jews in government, marriage, and civil rights. In 1940, Hungary became an official ally of Germany and the Axis Powers. In 1944, the persecution of Hungarian Jews was at its full height. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt turned to the War Refugee Board, an agency created to help the Nazis’ victims. The board began to search for a suitable individual to aid the Jews in Hungary. Before long, they discovered Wallenberg. He soon became fully committed to saving as many lives as possible. He and an associate handed out forged papers and passports to thousands of Hungarian Jews, preventing their deportation to concentration camps. On October 29, 1944, Wallenberg was called to the office of a Russian general. He walked into the general’s tent, and was never seen again. Papers released after the split of the Soviet Union revealed that Wallenberg had been arrested for spying, and that he had died while in a Soviet prison.
Neither hero had a good life after the war. Had they simply stayed in the safety of their luxurious homes and important positions and watched from afar, both would have lived prosperous lives. They saved thousands of lives, and in doing so ruined their own. Wallenberg spent the remainder of his life in a Soviet prison, and Schindler lived in poverty and loneliness until his death. So what was in it for them? Why did they help save the Jews despite their wealth and power? The answer is a simple word that holds an incredible amount of meaning for our us, our school, and our lives. This word is altruism.
Altruism is the willingness to serve, aid, or benefit others even if it means sacrificing self-interest. More simply put, altruism is helping someone even if you have nothing to gain by doing so. You can make others’ days better by helping them, and you can make your own day better by seeing the look of happiness on their faces. So what, you might ask, is a way I can be altruistic in my daily life at St. Albans? Well, start small. Pick up a pencil if your classmate drops one. If you see someone who appears to be upset, be empathetic. At sports, altruism could be picking up any gear that was left behind after practice or encouraging a struggling teammate.
Oskar Schindler, prior to writing his list and saving over a thousand Jews, was a rich, pro-Nazi, war-profiteering, black-market trader with a flair for gambling and drinking. Something happened, though. Maybe it was God. Maybe it was his true heart and a desire to do good that finally emerged from the depths of his heart. It could have come to him in a vision one day, while he looked down at the men and women working in his factory whose lives were in his hands. The important thing is that he did it. He saved the Jews’ lives, no matter what he thought or believed before. Altruism is the first theme of the story.
Now onto the second: redemption. Schindler is a perfect example of emerging from a formerly deceitful, almost evil life into a life that truly fulfilled his purpose. Before the war, when Schindler was pondering his purpose, he did not know what he would end up doing. Despite his prior wrongdoings, he gave value to his life. Redemption is not only making up for a past error, but making it better than it was before the error. A third theme is forgiveness. Forgiveness is the response to an apology or to a wrong done. Forgiveness, simply put, is one person’s choice to end resentment or anger towards an erroneous action committed by another person. For instance, in the present day, we view Schindler as a hero, not a black marketeer. This is because we are willing to forgive the mistakes he made before he realized he was not doing the right thing. In our community, forgiveness is incredibly important. We all make mistakes, and we all deserve another chance. Each and every one of us owe our St. Albans family and ourselves altruism, redemption, and forgiveness. After all, at the end of the day, we are brothers, brothers in one big St. Albans family.
St. Albans School
Phone: 202-537-6435
Located in Washington D.C., St. Albans School is a private, all boys day and boarding school. For more than a century, St. Albans has offered a distinctive educational experience for young men in grades 4 through 12. While our students reach exceptional academic goals and exhibit first-rate athletic and artistic achievements, as an Episcopal school we place equal emphasis upon moral and spiritual education.