A truly remarkable rarity, the only known book signed by the German industrialist credited with saving almost 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and ammunitions factories.  This volume inscribed and signed by Oskar Schindler to his wife Emilie and dated Christmas 1957, Frankfurt am Main. Schindler has penned (translated from the German): "To my dear Mily in remembrance of her courageous time." 8vo, original cloth, original dust jacket. Staining around the edges of the cloth with some skinning and degradation to the bottom approx. 1 cm of spine, a few small stains to the early and final pages, scattered light foxing; jacket in very good condition with areas of color variance from light exposure. Provenance: from the estate of Emilie Schindler and thence by descent. Oskar Schindler did not publish any books himself and we have located no other volumes signed by him on the market in over 50 years of records. 

The best-known work of German journalist Kurt Grossmann, Die Unbesungen Helden ("The Unsung Heroes"), published in 1957, chronicles the heroic wartime resistance activities of German citizens including Oskar Schindler. Grossmann solicited suggestions for subjects in newspaper advertisements, collecting more than 100 "heroes," whom he honored in the 1957 publication and in an enlarged edition of 1961. The book was the impetus for the "Unbesungene Helden" initiative of Berliner politician Joachim Lipschitz, which honored Germans who sheltered those persecuted by the Nazis.

After his and his wife's heroic work to save 1,200 Jews from the concentration camps, Oskar Schindler had spent his entire fortune on bribes and black-market purchases and the couple were practically destitute. In 1949, with financial help from a Jewish organization, they moved to Argentina and settled there as farmers. However, their farming business was unsuccessful, and the couple went bankrupt in 1958. By summer 1957, Oskar Schindler had returned to Germany to try to recoup his wartime losses. He was never to return to Argentina, dying in Germany in 1974 after an unremarkable series of business ventures. Oskar and Emilie never saw each other again after he departed from Argentina, although they remained married. Emilie lived most of the rest of her life near Buenos Aires, but died in 2001 on a visit to Germany.

Oskar and Emilie's marriage was troubled, with Oskar carrying on several affairs and fathering two children out of wedlock. Emilie wrote in her 1997 memoir Where Light and Shadow Meet: "In spite of his flaws, Oskar had a big heart and was always ready to help whoever was in need. He was affable, kind, extremely generous and charitable, but at the same time, not mature at all. He constantly lied and deceived me, and later returned feeling sorry [...] And then we would start all over again." By the time she heard of his death in 1974, she had decided she would not take him back if he returned to Argentina. (Emilie Schindler and Erika Rosenberg: Where Light and Shadow Meet (Norton, 1997): pp. 28, 144.)

Both Emilie and Oskar Schindler have been honored by Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, as Righteous Among the Nations.