The List

Anna’s final call in life came after the movie Schindler’s List was made. The spotlight came upon her, and despite the fact that she did not like talking much about her war experiences, she felt that it was time to speak up, to let people know that it really all happened, to tell them to renounce violence and prejudice. 

She felt it was her duty and she would become a living witness to the horrors of the war and tell her audiences that the movie was absolutely true and accurate. She spoke in churches, on television, at the White House, and in public schools. 

Julius Perl, the youngest of the three children, recalls how Anna was invited to speak at his son’s elementary school. The entire audience was mesmerized, listening quietly trying to hear the soft voice of the frail woman. Her talk was periodically interrupted by sobs heard in the audience. Later, children would write many letters, thanking Anna for telling them about the Holocaust, many saying that no single book or movie could be as powerful as her living presence.

Over the years Anna heard bits of news about Oscar Schindler from others on "The List". Unloved and unrecognized at home, he reached for the bottle. He had become an alcoholic during the war and struggled to wean himself off the habit. "He was like in the movie", Anne said, "Very handsome. A ladies`man. And he had this huge ring. We used to say you could see him coming from the light of his ring."

She didn't remember the exact day, but it was sometime in 1974 when she heard that Oscar Schindler had died. "I think a little bit of us all died, too", she said, "If it weren't for Oscar Schindler, we wouldn't be here."

Schindler`s life after the war had been a long series of failures. His clear indictment of German war criminals nourished the hatred that many felt for him. People spat at him, he was sworn at in the streets and stones were thrown at him. He was deeply unhappy, troubled after Germany's defeat by what he feared was the return of Nazism. 

Today Oscar Schindler`s name is known to millions as a household word for courage in a world of cowardice and brutality - the flawed hero who saved hundreds of Jews from Hitler's gas chambers. Schindler died in Frankfurt on the 9th of October, 1974, at an age of 66. He wanted to be buried in Jerusalem. As he said:"My children are here .." 

When Anna Perl died in March of 1997, three rabbis from different denominations spoke at her funeral. Julius felt privileged to read his mom’s eulogy. There is quote that he felt particularly poignant that day: “When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced.... Try to live your life so that when you die you will rejoice, and the world will cry.” 

Anna and Jano Perl were blessed with three children and she survived to see all her ten grandchildren. Thirteen of the six thousand Schindler survivors ...