“I didn’t know that list was such a big deal,” said Mimi Reinhard decades after World War II ended. Her story was brought to the big screen in the 1993 film directed by Steven Spielberg.
There are several people who were participants at some point in history but have kept a low profile, as their contribution isn’t always known to the general public.
One of those people is Mimi Reinhard. Although her name may not sound familiar to everyone, she was fundamental during World War II in saving 1,200 Jews from the Nazi Holocaust.
The secretary, who worked for the German businessman Oskar Schindler, died at the age of 107, according to information from Metro UK.
It should be remembered that this German businessman bribed Nazi officials to allow him to hire Jewish workers in his factories so that they wouldn’t have to be transferred to the various concentration camps in the country in the 1940s.
Mimi wrote a list of 1,200 Jews on a typewriter, thus saving them from tragedy.
This secretary was sent to the Plaszow concentration camp in 1942 where she worked in the camp’s administrative office thanks to her shorthand skills. “I didn’t know that list was such an important thing. First, I got the list of those who were already with Schindler in Krakow,” she said.
Then, the woman put her own name and those of two other friends. Some time later, near the end of the war, Mimi had the opportunity to meet Schindler in person, when she worked in his factory.
“He was a very charming man, very outgoing (…) He didn’t treat us like scum,” the woman recalled decades later after the war ended.
Her story became known after the release of the film “Schindler’s List,” which became a 1993 hit. The film, directed by Steven Spielberg, starred Liam Neeson, who was nominated for an Oscar for his performance.