Saved by Schindler’s List

Celina Karp Biniaz is one of the last living survivors from Schindler’s List—and the only one who graduated from North High School and Grinnell College in Iowa.

Sandi Yoder, Director of the Iowa Jewish Historical Society, will share Celina’s personal story, which included nearly five years in the Krakow ghetto and the Plaszow labor camp, the transfer to Auschwitz, and her terrifying encounter with Dr. Josef Mengele before she, her mother, and the other women on Schindler’s list were rescued by Schindler and were reunited with her father at Schindler’s factory. In October 2023, IJHS published Saved by Schindler: The Life of Celina Karp Biniaz, a remarkable biography by well-known Iowa historian William Friedricks.

The Iowa Files are livestreamed on the West Des Moines Historical Society’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page, thank to our partners at the West Des Moines Public Library, the Friends Foundation of the Library, the Iowa Arts Council and our members and donors.