Copy of Schindler's List for Sale for $2.2 Million

(March 22) -- How to calculate the monetary value of history?

For the families of the 801 mostly Polish Jews whose names appear on a 13-page document known as Schindler's List, there is no such such formula. It was their inclusion on the list, after all, that spared them from the Nazi death camps of World War II.

Dated April 18, 1945, the list was made famous by Steven Spielberg's 1993 film of the same title. Now, a copy of that list is up for sale for $2.2 million by Gary Zimet, an upstate New York dealer of historic documents.

"It's one of four remaining copies left in the world," Zimet told AOL News, "the originals having been turned over to the Nazis."

Michael Latz, AP

One of the four remaining copies of Schindler's List is up for sale for $2.2 million. Here, an alleged original copy of the list is shown.

Oskar Schindler, a German businessman, is believed to have saved nearly 1,200 Jews by shielding them in his factories so that they were not shipped to concentration camps. Schindler's Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern, helped him compile the list and is the man credited with rescuing the copies that have survived.

"It's printed on onion-skin paper," Zimet said. "It's remarkable given the age and the paper. It's in excellent shape."

Zimet, who is handling inquiries about the document through his Web site, MomentsInTime.com, is selling the list on behalf of the document's owner. "This is the only remaining copy left in private hands," Zimet said. "The rest are in museums."

While Zimet expects that many museums will be interested in obtaining the list, he notes that the high price will require a patron to step forward. "These days, museums are all broke," Zimet said.

The other three copies of the list are at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, at Israel's Yad Vashem and at a government-run archive in Koblenz, Germany.