As a hobby historian, living in Hildesheim, I started my research work concerning Oskar Schindlers last years in Hildesheim with the big surprise of his forgotten suitcase (1999 resp. 1997) under the roof in the "Göttingstr. 30". Here he lived together with Dr. Staehr and his wife, Annemarie Staehr, in a small appartement.
The "love" story started in Juli 1970 on the beach of Tel Aviv. Annemarie "Ami" Staehr was travelling with her husband, Dr. Heinrich Staehr. He had to make medical investigations with jewish survivors of the german concentration camps as a basis for financial claims.
During this time Ami had time on her own. At the beach she met the first time Oskar Schindler and was impressed about his "story" and his charisma - and fell in a "platonic" love.
At that time Oskar Schindler lived in a small appartment in Frankfurt/Main (close to the railway station). Dr. Staehr and his wife invited him, to move Hildesheim, where he died the
9th of october 1974.
Oskar Schindler enjoyed his Hildesheimer time (his best after the war!) with several friends of the Dr. Staehr family. A good friend was Prof. Dr. Heribert Heinrichs. He invited Oskar Schindler to the local University Hildesheim (former "Pädagogische Hochschule"), to speak
to the students about his horrible experiences during the time in Krakau/Poland.
I had the opportunity to have several discussions with Prof. Dr. Heinrichs about Oskar Schindler, before this important eye witness died 3 years ago. I'm in possession of his unpublished manuscript "Oskar Schindler in HILDESHEIM". So Oskar Schindler was a very religious man and a fan of the Hildesheimer "Cultural Monuments" (later: UNESCO World Cultural Heritage).
I have organized as a so called Oskar Schindler Guide a tour through Hildesheim, to show interested tourists all the places where Oskar Schindler has been with friends. The start is in the center at the market place in front of the "Knochenhaueramtshaus" (the entrance to the "Stadtmuseum"). The tour will last 2 hours and could be booked through the
tourist information Hildesheim phone no. : 05121 - 1798 - 0
close by in the Rathausstr. 18 - 20.
Interesting tracks and stories of Oskar Schindler I also found in Argentina, where I lived in 1972 in La Plata - very close to San Vicente, where also lived Oskar Schindler before he returned 1957 to Germany again. He left his wife, Emilie Schindler, in Argentina. The argentinan historian, Uki Goni, discribed in his book "The real ODESSA" the powerful network of Nazi war criminals during Oskar Schindlers time in Argentina . It is my intention to return to Argentina, to follow the traces of Oskar Schindler and to investigate the reasons for his economical failure.....