Mietek Pemper

Mieczysław "Mietek" Pemper (24 March 1920 – 7 June 2011) was a Polish-born German Holocaust survivor. Pemper helped compile and type Oskar Schindler's now-famous list, which saved 1,200 people from being killed in the Holocaust during World War II.

Early life Pemper was born into a Jewish family in Kraków, Poland on 24 March 1920 to Jakub and Regina Pemper. He had one younger brother, Stefan Pemper. In Polish, "Mietek" is short for "Mieczysław", and his family and friends referred to him as such. From early childhood, Pemper was bilingual in Polish and German. He was assigned as the personal secretary and stenographer to Amon Göth, Płaszów's notorious commandant, due to his previous work at the Kraków Ghetto's Judenrat. However, Pemper dismissed his diminished role in the film, saying his accomplishment was not the list that was compiled and typed, but "the multifarious acts of resistance that, like tiny stones being placed into a mosaic one by one, had made the whole process possible," according to The Daily Telegraph. Spielberg paid tribute to both Pemper and Stern outside of the film, calling them heroes. Pemper himself was portrayed by actor Grzegorz Kwas in the film. Pemper's adopted city of Augsburg awarded him a civic medal in 2003. They also named him as an honorary citizen in 2007.

Pemper submitted to an in-depth film interview in Vienna in June 2005 for UK company Gigatel Cyf (Ltd). Pemper spoke at great length about his experience from childhood to the aftermath of his experiences during the Holocaust, specifically at the Płaszów concentration camp under the control of Płaszów's commandant Amon Göth. Pemper only agreed to the interview after relentless persuasion for over 18 months by another Holocaust survivor named Edward Mosberg, who was himself imprisoned at the Płaszów, Mauthausen, and Linz camps. Some of the contents of this unique interview are included in the (UK 2016) – (US 2017) release of the Film – Destination Unknown and includes testimony not included in Pemper's autobiography The Road To Rescue. The Road to Rescue was published on 11 March 2011, shortly before Pemper's death.

A four-hour-long interview of Pemper (in German) is also available online on the USC Shoah Foundation website. The interview, conducted on 13 September 1997, covers the period before and during his captivity, and reveals details about Göth and Schindler.

Pemper died in Augsburg, Germany on 7 June 2011, at the age of 91. He never married and left no close family. He was buried in Augsburg's Jewish cemetery and municipal flags were lowered to half-staff in his honour. In tribute to Pemper, Augsburg's mayor Kurt Gribl said, "With Mietek Pemper, the city has lost an important builder of bridges between the Jewish and Christian religions and a contributor to reconciliation."