Schindler’s List is one of the most famous
films ever made.
It won 7 Oscars and 7 BAFTAs when it was
released 20 years ago.
View Schools Film Montage
Watch the trailer
What could you work out from the clips?
What do you know about the Holocaust?
The Holocaust, also known as Shoah (from the Hebrew for ‘the
catastrophe’), was the systematic, bureaucratic, state sponsored
persecution and slaughter of approximately 6 million Jews by
the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II (1939-45).
There were about 1.6 million Jewish children, ranging from
infants to teens, living in Europe at the start of World War II.
Of these, only about 11 percent survived the war.
It was not just Jews who were persecuted.
Other minorities who were targets of the Nazis included:
•
•
•
•
•
Communists
Socialists
Gypsies
Homosexuals
Disabled – physically and mentally.
Racial Superiority
The Nazis, led by Adolf Hitler, believed that anyone who could be
labelled as ‘racially inferior’ needed to be ‘cleansed’ in order to
protect the ‘Aryan race’.
Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism, that is prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against
Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage, has existed for
centuries.
• One of the four sources on the next slides comes from Hitler’s book
“Mein Kampf” (My Struggle) published in 1925. Can you tell which
one?
• The others were written in - 1543, 1881 and 1920. Can you sort out
the different sources into their correct order?
• Finally, one of them appeared in an English newspaper. Can you tell
which one?
A Their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up
should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be
able to see a stone of it... Their homes should be broken down and
destroyed passport and travelling privileges should be absolutely
forbidden to the Jews ... all their cash and valuables should be taken
from them. To sum up ... if this advice of mine does not suit you, then
find a better one and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish
burden - the Jews.
B I must certainly regard the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure man
and of all nobility in them and am convinced that we Germans in
particular will be destroyed by them.
C
This worldwide Jewish conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and
for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development ...
has been steadily growing.
D Should the Jew ... triumph over the people of this world, his crown will
be the funeral wreath of mankind, and this planet will once again
follow its orbit through ether, without any human life on its surface, as
it did millions of years ago. And so I believe that my conduct is in
accordance with the will of the Almighty creator. In standing guard
against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.
When were they written? 1543, 1881, 1920 or 1925 (from Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”)
A Their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up should be
covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be able to see a stone of it...
Their homes should be broken down and destroyed passport and travelling privileges
should be absolutely forbidden to the Jews ... all their cash and valuables should be
taken from them. To sum up ... if this advice of mine does not suit you, then find a
better one and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish burden - the Jews.
B I must certainly regard the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure man and of all
nobility in them and am convinced that we Germans in particular will be destroyed by
them.
C This worldwide Jewish conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and for the
reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development ... has been steadily
growing.
D Should the Jew ... triumph over the people of this world, his crown will be the
funeral wreath of mankind, and this planet will once again follow its orbit through
ether, without any human life on its surface, as it did millions of years ago. And so I
believe that my conduct is in accordance with the will of the Almighty creator. In
standing guard against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.
Answers
A Their synagogues should be set on fire and whatever does not burn up
should be covered or spread over with dirt so that no one may ever be
able to see a stone of it... Their homes should be broken down and
destroyed passport and travelling privileges should be absolutely
forbidden to the Jews ... all their cash and valuables should be taken
from them. To sum up ... if this advice of mine does not suit you, then
find a better one and we may all be free of this insufferable devilish
burden - the Jews.
Martin Luther 1543
B I must certainly regard the Jewish race as the born enemy of pure man
and of all nobility in them and am convinced that we Germans in
particular will be destroyed by them.
Richard Wagner 1881
Answers
C
This worldwide Jewish conspiracy for the overthrow of civilisation and
for the reconstitution of society on the basis of arrested development ...
Illustrated Sunday Herald 1920
has been steadily growing.
D Should the Jew ... triumph over the people of this world, his crown will
be the funeral wreath of mankind, and this planet will once again
follow its orbit through ether, without any human life on its surface, as
it did millions of years ago. And so I believe that my conduct is in
accordance with the will of the Almighty creator. In standing guard
against the Jew I am defending the handiwork of the Lord.
Adolf Hitler 1925
Anti-Jewish Propaganda
Propaganda is the use of the Media
to aggressively promote one point of
view. It involves ‘brainwashing’ of
the public and convincing them of an
ideological viewpoint.
The Nazis used anti-Semitic
propaganda over a long period of
time to influence the German
population into regarding the Jews
as untrustworthy and subhuman.
This made their persecution of them
much easier.
A front page
caricature from Der
Sturmer, No.7,
1935, showing
Jewish butchers
making sausages
from rats.
Poster: "Behind the
enemy powers: the
Jews"
Nazi propaganda often
portrayed Jews as
engaged in a conspiracy
to provoke war. Here, a
stereotyped Jew
conspires behind the
scenes to control the
Allied powers,
represented by the
British, American, and
Soviet flags.
"The
Eternal Jew" exhibition
Through their control of cultural
institutions such as museums,
under the Reich Chamber of
Culture the Nazis created new
opportunities to disseminate antiJewish propaganda. Most notably,
an exhibition entitled Der ewige
Jude (The Eternal Jew) attracted
412,300 visitors, more than 5,000
per day, during its run at the
Deutsches Museum in Munich
from November 1937 to January
1938. Special performances by the
Poster advertising the antisemitic film
Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew"), ca.
1940
Fritz Hippler, the president of the Reich
Film Chamber, directed this film with
input from German Minister of
Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
A pseudo-documentary, it included
scenes of Jews shot in the Warsaw and
Lodz ghettos by propaganda company
crews attached to the German military.
The education system was used to promote antiSemitism:
‘In my great educational work I am beginning with the
young. My magnificent youngsters! With them I can
make a new world!’
Adolf Hitler
Membership of the Nazi Teachers’ Association
became compulsory after 1933.
This made the process of indoctrination much easier for the Nazi
Party, with teacher’s being only too willing to pass on Nazi Ideas
within the classroom.
32% of teachers by 1936 were also members of the Nazi Party itself.
Those teachers who were thought to be lacking in loyalty and not
willing to ‘defend without reservation the National-Socialist state’
were sacked.
Virtually all Jewish teachers were dismissed in 1933 as it was
deemed ‘undesirable’ to allow Jewish teachers to teach ‘Aryan’
pupils. This was made possible by the Law for the Restoration of
the Professional Civil Service.
Some teachers remained as teachers in Jewish schools until these
schools were banned altogether in 1942. Those teachers who
taught in ‘Aryan’ schools, however, suffered increasing levels of
harassment and by 1935 no Jewish teachers were left in these
schools at all.
Michael Burleigh and Wolfgang Wippermann, ‘The Racial State’, 1991
‘Jewish children were often insulted by teachers and pupils, and
subjected to malevolent injustices. They had to sit at separate desks,
and were often forbidden to play with ‘Aryan’ children during
breaks…Jewish children could only escape harassment if they had
the chance to attend a Jewish school. Jewish communities, and the
Reich Representation of German Jews, did everything possible to
expand the existing Jewish schools or to create new ones. In 1942,
these were forbidden too.’
Children’s books were also used
to spread anti-Semitism.
Cover of an antisemitic
children's book published
by Der Stürmer-Verlag in
1936, entitled Trau keinem
Fuchs auf grüner Heid und
keinem Jud bei seinem Eid
(Trust No Fox in the Green
Meadow and No Jew on His
Oath). The book contains
page after page of antisemitic verses and
illustrations. It was widely
read and typical of
publications used in
German classrooms to
teach Nazi racial theories.
Page from The Poisonous
Mushroom
This photograph shows a
page from one of several
anti-semitic children's
books published by Julius
Streicher's Der StürmerVerlag. The text reads, "The
Jewish nose is crooked at
its tip. It looks like the
number 6."
Page from an anti-semitic
colouring book
One page of an anti-semitic colouring
book widely distributed to children
with a portrait of a Jew drawn by the
German caricaturist known as Fips. In
the upper left hand corner is the Der
Stürmer logo featuring a Star of David
superimposed over a caricature of a
Jewish face. The caption under the
star reads: "Without a solution to the
Jewish question, there will be no
salvation for mankind."
What was happening to Jewish children in school should not be viewed
in isolation. The persecution of Jewish people within Germany
accelerated alarmingly between the years 1933-45.
1933 Boycott of Jewish shops, Jewish Civil Servants were dismissed, a
ban introduced stopping Jews from inheriting land. Many school text
books were altered to contain anti-Semitic messages.
1935 The Nuremberg Laws made it illegal for Aryans to have sexual
relations with, or marry, Jews. Jews were no longer allowed to attend
public swimming baths, parks and restaurants. Public buildings were
closed to Jews and no Jew was allowed to join the army. Jews are to be
known as ‘subjects’ not citizens of Germany.
1938 Kristallnacht – Jewish shops, homes and synagogues attacked and
some destroyed. Many Jewish people were killed and injured. Jews no
longer had the right to choose their child’s name (it had to be chosen
from an approved list) and they were no longer allowed to trade.
1941 All Jews had to wear the Star of David (a large yellow six pointed
star) on their coats. Ghettoes were set up where Jewish families were
forced to settle before being moved on between 1941-45 to
Concentration Camps.
Jews were not the only
group excluded from the
vision of the “national
community”.
The Nazi regime also singled
out people with intellectual
and physical disabilities.
This poster is promoting the
Nazi monthly Neues Volk.
The caption reads: "This
hereditarily ill person will cost
our national community
60,000 Reichmarks over the
course of his lifetime. Citizen,
this is your money."
This publication, put out by
the Nazi Party's Race Office,
emphasised the burden
placed on society by those
deemed unfit.
This marginalisation of those
considered undesirable by the
Nazi regime led to genocide,
murder on a mass scale.
Genocide
Genocide, as defined by the United Nations in 1948, means any of the
following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national ethnic, racial, or religious group, including:
• Killing members of the group;
• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to
bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
The Nazis used a variety of methods to carry out
genocide against the Jews, including:
• Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing squads),
• gas vans and
• gas chambers.
Einsatzgruppen
These were mobile killing units
that carried out mass murder
operations in Eastern Europe.
Large groups of people were
rounded up and forced to dig
trenches.
They would then stand on the
side, or be forced to lie down on
top of other bodies in the
trenches, and were shot.
The Einsatzgruppen kept meticulous records of many of their
massacres, and one of the most infamous of these official records is
the Jager Report, covering the operation of Einsatzkommando 3 over
five months in Lithuania.
Written by the commander of Einsatzkommando 3, Karl Jager, it
includes a detailed list summarising each massacre, totalling 137,346
victims, and states:
"…I can confirm today that Einsatzkommando 3 has
achieved the goal of solving the Jewish problem in
Lithuania. There are no more Jews in Lithuania, apart
from working Jews and their families.“
There seems to be general agreement that the Einsatzgruppen killed
about 1.25 million people in the period 1941-42 in Nazi occupied
Poland and the USSR.
• You are going to watch a film about the Einsatzgruppen.
• You are now going to watch a clip of ‘Friends’ actress Lisa Kudrow
talking about what she discovered about her family’s experiences in
the Holocaust when making her episode of the TV programme ‘Who
Do You Think You Are?’
Gas Vans
Victims were herded into
converted lorries and vans and
taken for a drive.
The carbon monoxide produced
by the engine was then pumped
into the van killing all the people
inside.
The vans were used to kill
around 500,000 people,
primarily Jews, but also Romani
and others.
You are going to watch a clip (from 3.46) from Jerry
Springer’s episode of ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ which
shows what he learned about his grandmother’s death
in the Holocaust.
Gas Chambers
Transport trains delivered
Jews, and others, to
extermination camps from all
over Nazi-occupied Europe,
the most infamous of which
was Auschwitz in Poland..
When the trains arrived
selections took place and
about 3/4 of the total were
selected to die immediately
in the gas chambers.
This included almost all
children, women with
children, all the elderly, and
all those who appeared on
brief and superficial
inspection by an SS doctor
not to be completely fit.
To prevent panic, the Nazis
told them they would be
taking a shower. Instead, the
disguised showerheads
gassed the prisoners to death
using Zyklon-B pellets.
Zyklon B, a poisonous gas
made from hydrogen
cyanide crystals, was
originally manufactured as a
strong disinfectant and for
pest control. The SS used
Zyklon B for mass
extermination in the gas
chambers in an effort to
satisfy Hitler's demand to
annihilate all European Jews.
Those inside the gas
chambers died within 20
minutes, the speed of death
depending on how close the
inmate was standing to a gas
vent.
During the deportation of
Hungarian Jews in the spring
of 1944, Auschwitz-Birkenau
reached peak killing
capacity: as many as 6,000 Jews each day.
Many of those not killed on
arrival in the gas chambers
died of starvation, forced
labour, lack of disease
control, individual
executions, and medical
experiments.
1.1 million people are
thought to have died in
Auschwitz (in Poland) alone.
Jewish prisoners were forced to
work in the crematoria, burning
the bodies in ovens.
To cover up the workings of the
crematoria, the Nazis would kill
these workers, known as the
Sonderkommando, every few
months.
According to camp survivors, the
smell of burning bodies from the
crematoria was constantly in the
air.
The gas chambers and crematoria
enabled the Nazi regime to
murder huge numbers of Jews,
and others whom they considered
enemies such as gypsies, political
prisoners, ordinary criminals and
Russian POWs.
You are going to watch some
testimonies of survivors from
Auschwitz II Birkenau.
Holocaust - Total estimated victims
• 4.9 to 6.2 million Jewish people were systematically
exterminated during the Holocaust.
Estimates of other victims:
• Soviet POWs 2–3 million
• Ethnic Poles 1.8–2 million
• Romani
220,000–1,500,000
• Disabled
200,000–250,000
• Freemasons 80,000
• Homosexuals 5,000–15,000
• Jehovah's
2,500–5,000
Witnesses
The events of the Holocaust took place over 70
years ago, so why should we care?
‘Those who cannot remember the past are
condemned to repeat it.’
George Santayana philosopher, essayist, poet and
novelist.
What do you think this means?
Watch this interview with Rina Finder, a Holocaust
survivor. Can you summarise her message?
“It’ll never happen again...”?
Genocide is the deliberate and systematic
destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic,
racial, religious, or national group.
Can you name any cases of genocide which have
taken place since the Holocaust, or which are
taking place now?
The Bosnian War, or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was
an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and
Herzegovina between March 1992 and November 1995.
The Srebrenica Massacre, also known
as the Srebrenica Genocide, refers to
the July 1995 killing of more than
8,000 Muslim Bosniak men and boys,
as well as the ethnic cleansing of
25,000–30,000 refugees in the area of
Srebrenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina,
by units of the Army of Republika
Srpska (VRS) under the command of
General Ratko Mladic during the
Bosnian War.
Graphic chronology on the Srebrenica massacre. In all
nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed in the
massacre, the only episode during the war sparked by the
break-up of Yugoslavia that was ruled a genocide by two
international courts.
Tuzla (Bosnia), August 1995: UN
camp for refugees fleeing Srebrenica
Srebrenica survivor tells of Serb atrocities
www.independent.co.ukk
A 62-year-old survivor of a massacre at the Bosnian Muslim
enclave of Srebrenica has told a U.N. court how he played dead
and stumbled across a field of bloody corpses after Serb soldiers
gunned down columns of refugees.
"They mowed them down and they fell to the ground," said the
witness, whose identity was concealed. "You could hear the bullets
hitting the bodies ... the air was filled with dust."
Other refugees who survived the execution and tried to flee were
hunted down and murdered, he added.
Towards the end of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Serb forces broke
through U.N. defense posts surrounding the enclave and
slaughtered at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys, prosecutors say.
The witness said he was held with a group of about 250 men and
boys in a tiny room near the town of Pilica, where detainees as old
as 80 years old were starved, beaten, killed and intimidated by a
handful of Serb soldiers.
The men were bound and driven by bus to the site of a military
agricultural centre known as Branjevo farm, where a Serb soldier
led an execution squad.
"We were ordered to turn our backs and lined up ... then he ordered
us to lie down and, at that moment, a burst of fire came," he said.
Grazed by a bullet, the witness lay quietly among the dead, while
executioners finished off those still breathing.
One said: I'm still alive, kill me," the witness said, adding that the
man was killed with a single bullet through the head.
"I estimate between 1,000 and 1,500 were dead when the shooting
stopped," he said. "One man tried to flee, because he preferred a
bullet in the back than genocide."
Just before escaping through the woods, he claimed to have heard a
Serb soldier saying: "We have committed genocide ... like in 1941."
1. Countryside around Srebrenica.
2. The outskirts burn.
3. Serb tanks fire on Srebrenica.
4. Ratko Mladic, indicted Serb war criminal, arrives to take charge
of Srebrenica. "On to Potocari!" Mladic is shouting - he wants to
occupy the Dutch UN base immediately.
5. Mladic and his troops stroll through downtown Srebrenica.
6. Potocari: the Dutch UN base.
The ribbon across the main entrance marks the point at which
many of the men were separated from women and turned over to
the Serbs for eventual execution.
7. The refugees are evacuated as a group from the Potocari base.
8. A Serb officer outside the gates (top left) gestures for the men to
be separated from the women.
9. Men of all ages are marched away to the trucks. A voice
commands, "Follow him! Behind him! ... No, no, you lot to the left
... One by one."
10. Men are loaded onto the trucks.
11. Dutch Officer at Srebrenica. "When I was standing there, and the
men and the women were separated, I felt like a combination of
Schindler's List and Sophie's Choice was passing in front of me. It was
terrible to be aware of this and not be able to do something ..."
12. The Warehouse. Commentator: "Some of the men from the
town were taken to a large agricultural warehouse. A few of them
survived."
13. A survivor of the massacre. "The Serbs started shooting at us
with everything they had, inside and outside the warehouse.
People were dropping all over the place."
14. Aftermath of the warehouse massacre.
15. The mass graves.
“Remember.
Remember those appalling days which make the world
forever bad...
Only a matter of days separate
this from acts of torture now.”
‘Shooting Stars’ – Carol Ann Duffy
Other recent cases of genocide:
• 1994 - An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus
died in the genocide in Rwanda.
• 2010 - The International Criminal Court issued an arrest
warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir, on
genocide charges. He is accused of waging a campaign
against the citizens of the Sudanese region of Darfur.
Some 300,000 people are said to have died and millions
have been displaced in a decade of fighting there.
What has this got to do with you?
Answer yes or no to each of the following questions.
Answer truthfully. It is for your eyes only!
Have you ever:
1. Overheard a joke that made fun of a person of a different
ethnic background, race, religion, or sexual orientation?
2. Been the target of name calling because of your ethnic group,
race, religion, gender or sexual orientation?
3. Made fun of someone different than you?
4. Left someone out of an activity because they are different than
you?
Answer yes or no to each of the following questions.
Answer truthfully. It is for your eyes only!
Have you ever:
5. Not been invited to attend an activity or social function because
many of the people there are different from you?
6. Engaged in stereotyping (lumping together all people of a
particular race, religion, or sexual orientation? (E.g. White men
can’t jump.)
7. Been threatened by someone different from you because of
your difference?
8. Committed an act of violence against someone because that
person is different from you?
Pyramid of hate
Genocide
Violence
Discrimination
Acts of Prejudice
Prejudiced Attitudes
Pyramid of hate
The deliberate, systematic
extermination of an entire people
Genocide
Violence against people:
threats, assault,
terrorism, murder
Violence
Discrimination
Violence against property: arson,
desecration (violating the sanctity of
a house of worship or a cemetery)
Discrimination – employment, housing, educational
Harassment (hostile acts based on a person’s race,
religion, nationality, sexual orientation or gender)
Acts of
Prejudice
Name calling
Ridicule
Prejudiced
Attitudes
Accepting
stereotypes
Social avoidance
Social exclusion
Not challenging
belittling jokes
Telling belittling
jokes
Scapegoating
(assigning blame to
people because of their group )
The following poem is about the dangers of not
speaking out to protect others from prejudice
and discrimination.
First they came for the communists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the labor leaders,
and I did not speak out because I was not a labor leader.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
The Reverend Martin Niemöller
Niemöller was a German Anti-Nazi theologian and Lutheran
pastor.
He opposed the Nazis' state control of the churches and was
imprisoned in Sachsenhausen and Dachau concentration camps
from 1937 to 1945.
He narrowly escaped execution and survived imprisonment.
After his imprisonment, he expressed his deep regret about not
having done enough to help the victims of the Nazis.
As you watch the film, think about how you will
react the next time you hear someone make a
joke or a comment at someone else’s expense.
‘Schindler’s List’
directed by Steven Spielberg
What are the dangers / difficulties of
making a film about the Holocaust?
It is difficult to capture the events – the scale of what
happened is so unimaginable that it is hard for the
filmmaker to present it in a way that the viewer can
understand.
Spielberg had to work out how create a film that the
audience could relate to without over-simplifying what
happened.
Steven Spielberg has said that the Holocaust is too
abstract, too difficult for us to understand.
He has also said that he felt that the story of Oskar
Schindler provided “an avenue into a subject that is
too horrendous for words, let alone pictures.”
What do you think he means by this?
The film tells the story of Oskar Schindler (28 April 1908 –
9 October 1974), an ethnic German industrialist, German
spy, and member of the Nazi party.
However, when Schindler
died in 1974 he was buried
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
Israel, the only member of
the Nazi Party to be
honoured in this way.
In 1962 a tree was planted in Oskar Schindler’s honour in
the Avenue of the Righteous at the Yad Vashem Holocaust
museum in Jerusalem.
In 1993 both Oskar and his wife Emilie were officially
recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the
Nations, an award bestowed by the State of Israel on nonJews who took an active role to rescue Jews during the
Holocaust.
The film tells the story of what Schindler did to earn this
award.
He is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during
the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware
and ammunitions factories, which were located in what is
now Poland and the Czech Republic respectively.
Today there are more than 7,000 descendants of the
Schindler-Jews living in US and Europe, many in Israel.
In 1980, Australian author Thomas Keneally by chance
visited Poldek Pfefferberg's luggage store in Beverly
Hills while en route home from a film festival in Europe.
Pfefferberg was one of the ‘Schindlerjuden’, as the Jews
saved by Schindler were known. He took the opportunity
to tell Keneally the story of Oskar Schindler. He gave him
copies of some materials he had on file, and Keneally
soon decided to make a fictionalised treatment of the
story.
After extensive research and interviews with surviving
Schindlerjuden, Keneally’s historical novel Schindler’s
Ark (published in the United States as Schindler's List)
was published in 1982.
The novel was adapted into the 1993 film Schindler’s List
by Steven Spielberg.
Both the book and the film reflected his life as an
opportunist initially motivated by profit who came to
show extraordinary initiative, tenacity, and dedication
in order to save the lives of his Jewish employees.
Liam Neeson was nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Actor for his portrayal of Schindler in the film,
which won seven Oscars, including Best Picture.
Was Oskar Schindler a hero?
Was Oskar Schindler a hero?
Reasons against
• Schindler joined the Nazi party in
1939.
• He was a womaniser and a playboy.
• One biographer claims that he
helped the Nazi party to plan the
invasion of Poland.
Was Oskar Schindler a hero?
Reasons against
• He worked as a Nazi spy.
• Several of the lists were not written
by Schindler, but by Marcel
Goldberg, a corrupt Jewish member
of the security police.
Was Oskar Schindler a hero?
Reasons for
• Because of the actions that he took,
over 1,100 people survived the
Holocaust.
• He moved hundreds of his workers
to Czechoslovakia where they were
safer.
• He put himself in danger by taking
action to protect his workers.
Was Oskar Schindler a hero?
Reasons for
• He treated his workers with respect,
providing food, healthcare and
allowing people to practice their
religion.
• He spent his fortune to save his
workers.
• Many of his former workers
consider him to be a hero.
How can we make sense of this?
Does it mean that Schindler was not really a
hero?
Can heroes have flaws?
How did Spielberg approach telling
Schindler’s story?
Spielberg had to use a range of
techniques to engage the audience in
Schindler’s story.
Throughout the film there is a continual emphasis on
ensuring that the audience engage with the characters
as individuals:
• we see the relationships between the Jews
working for Schindler,
• we know them by name,
• there are people of all ages.
What effect do think this
will have on the viewer?
This enables the audience to identify with them, will
them to survive and feel triumphant when they do.
When we see the survivors and their families laying
rocks on Schindler’s grave at the end this reinforces the
truth in the story and the idea that these are people
that we can relate to.
Why was the film ‘Schindler’s List’ made?
Which of the following arguments do
you think are most convincing?
Why was the film ‘Schindler’s List’ made?
Steven Spielberg, who
directed Schindler’s List,
comes from a Jewish
family. Some of his
relatives died in the
Holocaust.
The film was made to
tell the story of Oskar
Schindler. When Oskar
Schindler died in 1974
he was penniless and
almost unknown.
Why was the film ‘Schindler’s List’ made?
Schindler’s List was
made to make money. It
made over $320 million
worldwide.
The main purpose of
any film is to entertain
its audience.
Schindler’s List won
many awards, including
seven Academy Awards
and seven BAFTAs.
Why was the film ‘Schindler’s List’ made?
Schindler’s List was
made to help people to
understand what
happened during the
Holocaust.
Steven Spielberg used
the profits from
Schindler’s List to set up
the Shoah Foundation.
The Shoah Foundation
has brought together
over 52,000 interviews
with people who
survived the Holocaust.
Why was the film ‘Schindler’s List’ made?
Schindler’s List was based on a novel by Thomas
Keneally called Schindler’s Ark. A Holocaust
survivor called Poldek Pfefferberg persuaded
Keneally to write about Oskar Schindler and
Spielberg to make a film based on the book. The
novel is based on interviews with over fifty Jews
who worked in Schindler’s factories.
• Steven Spielberg, who directed Schindler’s List, comes from a Jewish family. Some
of his relatives died in the Holocaust.
• The film was made to tell the story of Oskar Schindler. When Oskar Schindler died
in 1974 he was penniless and almost unknown.
• Schindler’s List was made to make money. It made over $320 million worldwide.
• The main purpose of any film is to entertain its audience.
• Schindler’s List won many awards, including seven Academy Awards and seven
BAFTAs.
• Schindler’s List was made to help people to understand what happened during the
Holocaust.
• Steven Spielberg used the profits from Schindler’s List to set up the Shoah
Foundation. The Shoah Foundation has brought together over 52,000 interviews
with people who survived the Holocaust.
• Schindler’s List was based on a novel by Thomas Keneally called Schindler’s Ark. A
Holocaust survivor called Poldek Pfefferberg persuaded Keneally to write about
Oskar Schindler and Spielberg to make a film based on the book. The novel is based
on interviews with over fifty Jews who worked in Schindler’s factories.
Steven Spielberg uses a number of
techniques in Schindler’s List to help the
viewer to understand the horror of the
Holocaust.
Black and White film
Almost all of the film was shot in black and white.
Why do you think Spielberg chose to do this?
What effect do you think it will have on you as a viewer?
Black and White film
Spielberg has said that he felt that there was “more
truth in black and white.”
What do you think he meant?
Do you agree?
Black and White film
Spielberg has explained that he felt that it was more
appropriate to the time for the film to be shot in black
and white.
He has said that since his mental images of the
Holocaust were in black and white from photographs,
that there was “more truth in black and white.”
Black and White film
It also gives the film more of a documentary feel,
which adds weight to the story.
Cinematographer Janusz Kamiński said that he wanted
to give a timeless sense to the film, so the audience
would "not have a sense of when it was made."
Cinematography
Spielberg decided not to plan the film with storyboards
and to shoot the film like a documentary.
Forty percent of the film was shot with handheld
cameras and the modest budget of $25 million meant
the film was shot quickly over seventy-two days.
Cinematography
Spielberg felt that this gave the film "a spontaneity, an
edge, and it also serves the subject."
Spielberg said that he "got rid of the crane, got rid of
the Steadicam, got rid of the zoom lenses [and] got rid
of everything that for me might be considered a safety
net."
Occasional use of colour
Whilst the film is mainly shot in black and white, there
is very occasional use of colour.
Look out for these as you watch the film.
Occasional use of colour
The opening scene is in colour but then fades to black
and white. Why do you think Spielberg chose to do
this?
This gives the viewer a sense of going back in time.
Occasional use of colour
The other most obvious use of colour is in the red coat
of a small girl.
We see her a few times in the film and she is used to
represent:
- the innocence of the Jewish people and
- Schindler’s changing attitude towards what
was happening.
Occasional use of colour
Colour is also used for candles at the end of the
film.
Spielberg has said that these are to represent a
glimmer of hope.
The story of individuals
Schindler’s List teaches us about the Holocaust through
the story of individuals.
Is it strange that Steven Spielberg chose a story with a
positive outcome to show audiences about the
Holocaust?
What effect do you think this has?
The final scene
The film closes with some of the people that Schindler
saved visiting Oskar Schindler’s grave with their
families.
•
How do you think this will reinforce the
audience’s engagement with the characters?
•
How do you think this scene will make you feel?
The story of individuals
Steven Spielberg feels that visual history is very important.
He invested all of the money made by Schindler’s List in
setting up the Shoah Foundation, which teaches people
about the Holocaust through the stories of survivors.
The Shoah Foundation has collected almost 52,000 video
testimonies from survivors of the Holocaust, plus survivors
of more recent acts of genocide.
The story of individuals
• Spend some time looking at the clips from
The Shoah Foundation website
• Why do you think Spielberg felt that it was
so important to capture these stories?
• What impact do they have?
Watching the Film
While you watch the film you are going to look
out for Themes and Motifs.
Schindler’s List - Themes and Motifs
Theme - an idea or concept that is central to a
story.
Motif - a dominant or recurring idea in an artistic
work.
Schindler’s List - Themes and Motifs
There are many interesting themes and motifs in the film.
The triumph of
good over evil
Lists
Respect
for life
The power of
the individual
Trains
Possessions
Collective
responsibility
Knowledge
and denial
The girl in
the red coat
Schindler’s List - Themes and Motifs
You will each be given a card with a different theme / motif
on it.
You are going to look out for examples of this aspect while
you are watching the film and will take notes on this.
Be prepared to feedback on this theme / motif to the rest of
the class once we have watched the film.