Oskar Schindler lived from 1908 to 1974. He was a Sudetendeutsche, meaning southern-land German. The Sudetendeutsche were ethnic Germans that lived in Czechoslovakia in scattered pockets and made up a significant minority of the population. Schindler joined the Sudeten German Party (SGP) of Czechoslovakia in 1935 at the age of 27. (For more on the Sudetendeutsche and the Sudeten German Party, see Index of Terms.) The SGP pushed for the annexation of Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany under the Munich agreement and thus was partly responsible for the Nazis’ crimes in the region. Schindler, like many Sudetendeutsches, joined the party on a wave of ultra-nationalist fervor for a united “homeland” for all German peoples. The SGP and the resulting Munich Agreement were responsible for the validation of the Nazi Lebensraum ideology. Nazi Germany’s ability to implement Lebensraum in the Sudetenland galvanized it to annex more territory for German colonialism.

Thomas Keneally doesn’t explore Schindler’s time in the SGP, yet Schindler’s membership in the party is the sole reason for his stint as an Abwehr spy and his membership in the Nazi party as a respected official.