Schindler’s List is Being Sold On eBay At a Starting Bid Of $3,000,000

"Schindler's list" is in the process of being sold on eBay at a starting bid of not one, not two, but $3,000,000. And it's not a hoax. Two collectors in California own one of the four copies of the list. Sellers Gary Zimet and Eric Gazin hope to make at least a cool five million from the list. 

Steven Spielberg's well-received movie based off the book by Thomas Keneally paid homage to the real story of Oskar Schindler, an ethnic German and Nazi Party member that is credited for saving the lives of over 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Schindler accomplished this by gaining permission from SS officers to allow Jewish workers a place to  to hide in the safety of his factories until the end of WWII. Each Jew Schindler saved was placed on his list.

Museum vs. no-museum arguments aside, here are five interesting facts related to Schindler's list.

1. A 13 Year-Old-Boy Was the One Of the Youngest People On Schindler's List

Known as "Little Leyson," Leon Leyson passed away this past January at age 83. After the war, he moved to California lived in Los Angeles. "A hero is an ordinary human being who does the best of things in the worst of times," Leyson once said of Schindler in an interview. 

2. Celina Karp Biniaz Had a Face-to-Face Encounter With "The Angel of Death"

A Schindler Jew, Biniaz recounted an experience she had with Dr. Josef Mengele at the concentration camp in Auschwitz, choosing women to either live or be sent to a gas chamber. By a miraculous chance, she was chosen to live and continued to live on with Schindler's help.

3. There Are Only 4 Existing Copies Of the List

The other three are situated in museums. One is in the United States at the Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the other two are in Israel. It will be interesting to see where the document available on eBay ends up. 

4. Oskar Schindler is the Only Nazi to Be Buried in Jerusalem

After his death, he was buried on Mount Zion as lasting testament to how much his assistance to the Jewish community at the expense of his own comfort and wealth during the Holocaust was valued.

5. Isaak Stern Signed a Letter Urging Jews to Help Schindler

The copy of the list on eBay hails from the family of Isaak Stern. After the war, Schindler was in danger of being tried as a war criminal, and fell into poverty after using up his funds to assist the Jews. He was able to survive with the help of Jewish organizations and ties to the Jewish people he formerly protected.

"We sincerely plead with you to help Director Schindler in any way possible, and especially to enable him to establish a new life, because of all he did for us both in Krakow and in Bruennlitz he sacrificed his entire fortune," the last line of the letter reads. The full translation of it can be read here.