Publisher's Synopsis
Dr. Robin O'Neil's latest study on the Holocaust, "Oskar Schindler: Stepping Stone to Life," follows thematically from his previous book, "Belzec: Stepping Stone to Genocide," 2008, and his PhD thesis, "Belzec: Operation Reinhardt and the Origins of Jewish Genocide in Galicia." Whereas the previous works focused on the genocidal horrors of World War II, O'Neil's examination of Schindler focuses on life and hope. Dr. O'Neil's work on Schindler has been praised by important personages. In a conversation with Dr. O'Neil in 1995, Mrs. Oskar Schindler said, "My husband would have been proud of you." Professor Michael Berkowitz, of University College London, commented that "Dr. O'Neil's research re. Oskar Schindler is both fascinating and of fine scholarship." Judge Moshe Bejski wrote in 2002, "Your research material is exemplary and corrects many of the inaccuracies in film, written and the spoken word about Schindler." And Sir Martin Gilbert, the eminent Holocaust scholar, wrote: "No one has done more justice to the life and achievements of Oscar Schindler than Dr. Robin O'Neil, whose archival detective work and zeal for telling the story in all its fascinating detail is of the highest order." Dr. O'Neil worked on the Schindler story off and on since 1987. He took on many tasks in the intervening years, meeting people central to the story during his travels in Europe and Israel and the United States, investigating numerous leads, reading published and unpublished materials, questioning, observing, writing, and always taking notes and filing them away. Parts of the story would emerge in his other writings, many of which appeared online on JewishGen. Manuscripts such as "Poland and her Jews 1941-1944," translation of the "Kovno Ghetto Diary," and "Rabka Police School: Poland" enhanced his reputation as a foremost Nazi war crimes researcher who writes scholarly works on the destruction of European Jewish communities in an informal and highly readable style. "Oskar Schindler: Stepping Stone to Life" is the definitive work on Oskar Schindler. Dr. O'Neil examines the enigmatic Schindler, using all published and unpublished research to take the reader through all the evidence to the surprising conclusion.
