Oscar Schindler was a bon vivant, a member of the Nazi party and a shameless womanisor of the worst sort  - and at the same time one of the greatest, if not the greatest, humane figure in the  Holocaust. During World War 2 he continually risked his life to protect and save his Jewish workers. He desperately spent every penny he had bribing and paying off the Nazis to get food and better treatment for his Jews. Millions of Jews died in death camps like Auschwitz - but Schindler's Jews miraculously survived.

Schindler joined The German military intelligence, Abwehr, headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, in the autumn 1938. Schindler was charged with setting up spy network among the three million Germans of the Sudetenland region for the Abwehr, but the then Czechoslovak authorities were quick to identify Schindler as a spy. He was arrested and imprisoned for a month in 1938 shortly before Hitler's annexation of Sudetenland.

According to David M. Crowe, Holocaust historian and professor at Elon University, whose book, "Oskar Schindler: The Untold Account of His Life, Wartime Activities and the True Story Behind the List," was published 2004, Czech secret police archives refer to Schindler as "a spy of big caliber and an especially dangerous type."

As a salesman, Schindler traveled to southern Poland and reported to Abwehr regarding points of military importance. His affiliation with Abwehr excused him from military service.

Schindler was highly esteemed by Admiral Canaris - a fact that was to play a decisive role later in the war for Schindler, when he needed all his contacts to save his Schindler-Jews.