Julius Madritsch in Thomas Keneally's book “Schindler’s Ark”

Thomas Keneally in his book “Schindler’s Ark” writes about Oskar Schindler and how he saved hundreds of Jewish people during World War II. In this book we can also read about Julius Madritsch, who, just like Schindler, had workshops where he hired Jewish workers. Employed in those factories, lots of his workers survived Holocaust. In Keneally’s book Madritsch is one of the Schindler’s friends, and he also was his associate.

Madritsch protected his workers, he gave them extra white bread and other essentials products.

That book also shows us how hard it was for Madritsch and Schindler to keep their workers save. And how hard it was to always make the right decisions. Sometimes they had to use their own savings to create a new plant, to employ a new worker, or to bribe somebody in the top person.
Thomas Keneally presents Madritsch as a person who always shows his humanity to everyone. He was very devoted to what he was doing. His aim was to save as many people as he could. For him and for Schindler every saved life was like a gold.

From 1943 Madritsch’s workers started making uniforms for German soldiers. After the ghettos in Krakow and Tarnow were liquidated, Madritsch’s workers were removed to workshops in Plaszow. This fact was strange for some of the top Germans who were Madritsch’s friends. They thought that Madritsch could lose a lot of money that way. They were trying to convince him not to do that, and that he should close the workhsop and open a new one in a safe place and they suggested they could help him to transport all sewing machines but they still were not able to convince Madritsch. The author thinks that the decision that Madritsch made was because his daughter was in love with one of the Madritsch’s workers, a young Jew from the Tarnow’s ghetto. It was a difficult situation because this relation would have never been accepted outside of the plant, so the relationship had to be kept secret. Madritsch had many German friends who were soldiers, so affair could have been dangerous and risky for the whole Madritsch’s family.

In 1964 Madritsch was honoured by Yad Vashem as “The Righteous Among the Nations”.

Thomas Keneally describes Madritsch as a person who has done everything for his Jews.