There is only one Schindler’s List
Australian Jews who owe their lives to German industrialist Oskar Schindler have found the use of the name “Schindler’s List” by a Queensland real estate agent highly offensive.
The Vic Murphy real estate office in Maroochydore is owned by a family named Schindler and has used the term to advertise property for more than five years according to media reports.
Jake Selinger
But 89-year-old Sydney Holocaust survivor is the last remaining Jew in Sydney whose life was saved because of the protection of Oskar Schindler is not amused. She told J-Wire: “The name ‘Schindler’s List’ is being used for the purpose of generating business and I find this very offensive. The company should stop using at once or amend it so that it does not demean the efforts of Oskar Schindler. I owe my life to him. Do these Schindlers have any association with him other than the same surname?”
Jake Selinger’s parents were also “Schindler Jews”. The 62-yr-old Sydney accountant said: “This type of promotion trivialises the man who saved my parents’ lives. There is only one ‘Schindler’s List’. I can see no problem if it was called ‘Glennis Schindler’s Property List’, but as it is, it is an obvious play on the name of Steven Spielberg’s film. To apply it to the business of selling real estate misrepresents an important and tragic chapter in history.”
The advertisement is currently appearing in the magazine ‘My Property Review’. J-Wire contacted the publishers but they declined to comment.
Oskar Schindler
The president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Robert Goot, told J-Wire: “The precise term should be removed from advertising and not be re-used. It has been reported that Glennis Schindler said that she was wiling to cease using it if people took offence and now survivors directly associated with Oskar Schindler have admitted to being offended.”
The ECAJ are on record as saying that they doubted that the real estate company ever intended the advertisement to be offensive .
Glennis Schindler told the Sydney Morning Herald that it was simply a play on words and that did not want to offend anyone.
A spokesman for the real estate company told J-Wire that no more advertising was planned for this year and they would make a decision for 2010 after Christmas.
