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Man who made Schindler list dies at 91

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The man who gave Oscar Schindler the names of more than 1,000 Jews who he would save during the Holocaust has died at the age of 91.

Mietek Pemper was just 19 when the Nazis invaded Poland. Along with many other Jews from Krakow, he was sent to Plaszow concentration camp the Nazis selected him to act as personal typist to its commandant Amon Goeth.

He continued to do so for 18 months from March 1943, and the position gave him access to letters to Goeth sent from his superiors in Berlin.

Mr Pemper found out that the Nazis were intending to close any factories which were not dedicated to the war effort. At severe personal risk he persuaded Schindler, then a German industrialist, to stop producing enamel and instead make anti-tank grenade rifles.

He then gave Schindler the famous typed list of names of Jews to be recruited for work in the factories.

After the war, Mr Pemper gave evidence at Goeth's war crimes trial. He was hanged in 1946. Mr Pemper later moved to the city of Augsburg and became a German citizen, working as a management consultant.

But although he sought out a life of obscurity, when his story was rediscovered by Australian author Thomas Kenneally Mr Pemper served as an adviser to Steven Spielberg's film.

He also published his memoirs in 2005, writing in the book that it was "only the extraordinary circumstances of war and the immense power granted to individual men" that revealed the heroism of Schindler and the murderous nature of Goeth.

He said it had been a privilege to work for Schindler. "Fate had placed me between the two of them," he said. "It was like having an angel on one side and a demon on the other."

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