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Itzhak Stern. Photo by Alexander Taylor on

Top 10 Interesting Facts about Itzhak Stern

Itzhak Stern was an Australian Jewish accountant who worked for German industrialist Oskar Schindler. He used to work for an enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland, before World War II.

He met Schindler in 1939 at the Judenrat building, where Schindler was searching for a man with a connection who could help him gather funds for his new factory.

While working at the Schindler factory, he was responsible for typing the name of several Jews who were employed in the Schindler factory, saving them from death during the holocaust.

Learn more about Itzhak Stern in these top 10 facts.

1. Stern Was Born in a Jewish Family

Stern was born on January 25, 1901, in Krakow, Grand Duchy, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had a brother named Natan Stern, who went to Plaszow after the liquidation of the Krakow Ghetto.

His parents are little known. However, his mother died of illness when being transferred to Auschwitz along with other female Jews from Schindler’s company.

Stern was an important leader in the Jewish community, was the vice present of the Jewish Agency for western Poland and a member of the Zionist central committee.

2. Itzhak Stern Was a Holocaust Survivor

Stern survived the holocaust. Holocaust was the global destruction of European Jews during World War II between 1941 and 1945.

Nazi Germany and its collaboration systematically murdered six million Jews across the German-occupied empire. Itzhak managed to survive all war.

As a holocaust survivor, he worked for Sudeten-German industrialist Oskar Schindler and assisted him in his rescue activities during the holocaust.

3. Itzhak Stern Was an Accountant

Itzhak Stern (left) had not seen Oskar Schindler. Photo by Alexander Taylor on

During the early months of the Nazi occupation of Poland, on November 18, 1939. Oskar Schindler was introduced to Stern, who was then working as an accountant for Schindler’s fellas Abwehr agent Josef ‘Sepp’ Aue, who had taken over Stern’s previously Jewish-owned place of employment as a Treuhander (trustee).

At the time, Schindler was thinking of acquiring an enamelware manufacturer called Rekord, owned by construction of Jewish business that had filed bankruptcy earlier that year.

Schindler showed the company balance sheet to Stern, who advised him to run the company as a trusteeship under the auspice of the Haupttreuhandstelle Ost (Main Trustee Office for the East).

Stern advised him to buy or lease the business directly. This will give him more freedom from the dictates of the Nazis, including the freedom to hire more Jews.

4. Stern Assisted Oskar Schindler in Rescue Activities During the Holocaust

Schindler employed Jewish in his company following the advice of Stern and began his rescue activities. Krakow’s Jews were imprisoned in the Krakow Ghetto six months after German troops invaded Krakow.

The ghetto was fully liquidated in 1943. The Krakow’s Jews were considered useful and were sent to Plaszow, including Schindler’s workers and Stern and the rest were sent to various death camps across Poland.

Stern and his bother Natan, along with Mietek Pemper and Joseph Bau, were forced to work in the Plaszow office. This is where they came into frequent contact with the camps’ notorious commandant Amon Goth.

Stern helped Mietek Pemper in his efforts to prevent the closure and liquidation of Plaszow, knowing that the worse condition of the war would cause terrible liquidation and likely mean the deaths of every prisoner.

Schindler and Stern kept in contact throughout this time. They worked to better conditions for the Jews, including transferring workers to the Schindler factory, distributing aid money and attempting to inform the outside world of their plights.

5. Stern Saved Oskar Schindler from Being Arrested

During the Nazi party, Stern and the surviving members of his family were placed on the famous list to be transferred to Brunnlitz by Schindler.

Stern mother died of illness when she and other female schindlerjuden were transferred to Auschwitz before Schindler could arrange their transfer to Brunntiltz.

The male schindlerjuden, including Natan and Stern, were transported to Gross-Rosen before they were sent to the relative safety of Brunnlitz. Stern started working directly with Schindler and became one of the leaders of the Jewish workers.

Schindler was in danger of being arrested after the defeat of Nazi Germany due to his Nazi party and Abwehr membership. Stern and other Jewish leaders wrote a letter attesting to Schindler’s rescue of Jews, which they gave to Schindler before he was fed to American lines.

6. He Rescued Jewish Workers

When Schindler employed Stern, he advised him to use Jewish slave labor to start his factory, Deutsche Emaillewaren fabric (German Enamelware Factory). This would protect Jewish laborers from deportation.

In 1944, Schindler opened a new factory, the Brunnlitz labor camp in Brnenec occupied Czechoslovakia for his Jewish workers to prevent them from being sent to death camps.

7. Itzhak Advocated for Oskar Schindler to be Recognized

Itzhak Stern (left) had not seen Oskar Schindler. Photo by Alexander Taylor on

After the freeing of the Brunnlitz camp by the red army, stern moved to Â鶹APP, France and finally emigrated to Israel.

Stern advocated for Schindler to be recognized more broadly. He even wrote a pamphlet about his rescue activity.

Stern remained friends with Schindler for the rest of his life, corresponding with him until he died in 1967. It said that Schindler cried during his funeral.

8. Itzhak Stern Marriage

Stern was engaged to Sophia Beckenrot in 1938, who served the war due to her Aryan appearance in the Drohobycz ghetto.

During the time they were getting married. Their marriage was postponed until the end of the war in 1945. They remained married until Stern’s death at the age of 65.

9. Stern Legacy Lives in Films

Stern plays a crucial role in the 1993 film Schindler list. English actor Ben Kingsley portrayed the stern role. At the film’s end, stern’s wife Sophia appears in a procession of Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews).

The actor who acted as schindlerjuden and the actors who portrayed them placed stones on Schindler’s grave on Mount Zion, a Jewish tradition that shows respect for the deceased. Stern brother Natan was also one of the schindlerjuden in the procession.

10. His Letter was Expensively Auctioned

A letter by Schindler to him was available for sale online for $32,5000. The letter contained rare original autographs and historical paperwork. It was put out for sale by a Stern descendant.