Schindler’s List
Oskar Schindler
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He was a German from Czechoslovakia
Born in 1908
Raised a strict catholic
There were Jews in his class at school
He lived next door to a rabbi growing up
Before the war, he was a small time
salesman and not very successful
What kind of man was Schindler
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People called him:
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A swindler
“Der grosse Lebemann” (Emilie Schindler, his wife),
“a man who loves to live life to its fullest.”
Charming, vain, handsome, womanizer, alcoholic,
flamboyant, gambler, risk taker
Loved living life on the edge, and to be the center of
attention
Liked to play the playboy spy.
How did the Germans see him
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For the Nazi party, he was a party member since
1939.
He was a loyal agent for military intelligence.
He was used as a spy. He provided for the war
effort.
He provided Polish army uniforms to German
provocateurs who attacked a German border
radio station the night before the invasion of
Poland. The station was said to have been
overrun by “Polish” soldiers. Actually, it was
Germans dressed as Poles. This provided an
excuse to invade.
Schindler during the war
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Was arrested repeatedly (3 times by the
SS).
Usually arrested for black market fraud.
His connections always got him out.
He ended up being the only German to
save more than 1,000 Jews from the
death camps.
Quote from Interview with
Spielberg
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The Quote is about adapting the film from
the novel.
“The difficulty was what we could not use
because we just did not have time to use
it. . . . I had to . . . Find a way of taking the
novel, and not so much distill it, but just
find all the moments that moved me the
most and were the most informative.”
Quote from Interview with
Spielberg (Continued)
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“In the process of Schindler’s almost
transparent transformation from a
businessman to a savior, the novel did not
give me those clues. It did not tell me why
Schindler did it. And none of the
witnesses could tell me why Schindler did
it, even though I asked everybody I met.”
Schindler’s motivation
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Point of some debate among the Schindler
Jews.
Some said he was an opportunist who saved the
Jews because it was self-serving, or because he
loved to outwit the SS.
Others believed his motivation to be purely to
save lives.
But for most of the Schindler Jews, they simply
know that he saved them and that is all that
matters.
The Change of Heart
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One survivor claims he witnessed
Schindler’s change of heart.
After seeing Goeth shoot two girls shortly
before they died from hanging, Schindler
got ill in front of everyone, turned to the
survivor and stated that he would never
work for the Germans again.
He did show “his Jews” kindness
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He permitted them to observe holidays.
He went to great lengths to make them
feel safe.
He slept in the factory himself, although a
villa was available in Brinnlitz.
He provided extra food and medicine.
Some of this is portrayed in the film.
History vs. the Film
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At the end of the war, Schindler had to flee
because the Russians would have shot him
without a trial.
Some of his Jewish workers smuggled him out
as a camp survivor.
Unlike the film portrayal, however, he escaped
in a Mercedes full of valuables.
These were later looted and stripped from him
and he arrived with nothing in the American
zone.
While with the Americans
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He gave American investigators evidence
against his former Nazi drinking buddies.
American Jews helped get him to
Switzerland.
After the war
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He lived in different parts of West Germany.
He lived for a time with Jews in Argentina.
His grand schemes never worked out.
He was at his best during war time.
He lived in Israel for a time and was celebrated,
and bestowed the title of righteous gentile. A
tree was planted for him in the avenue of the
righteous.
When he returned to Germany, he lived in
poverty and obscurity.
Schindler’s death
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He died at age 66 of a failed heart and
liver.
He was buried in Israel in 1974.
His grave is shown in the film at the end.
Krakow
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The story takes place in Krakow.
26% of the population was Jewish.
Shows the Krakow-Plaszow labor camp.
In Krakow during the Holocaust, the Jews invited
a wall around their ghetto to protect them from
Polish citizens.
Krakow was a bastion of Jewish culture, but also
of anti-Semitism.
The Jews thought of the walls as a fortress
against anti-Semitism.
Krakow
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When the Nazis came, the Jews almost
willingly moved to the ghetto.
They expected to need their fortress, they
knew that there was a great deal of hatred
toward them in the Polish population.
The Accuracy of the Film
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Everywhere the “Schindler Jews” got
preferential treatment. Accurate.
Shows Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia
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Near Schindler’s home town.
The film shows this accurately, shows the
stops on the way there, except that the men
also stopped in Groess-Rosen for a week.
The women were in Auschwitz for 3 weeks.
Schindler had to bribe their way out.
The List
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The list had 297 women and 800 men on it.
The first list made was not very accurate and
hastily made.
Schindler added 80 names from a “frozen
transport,” a transport from an Auschwitz
subcamp. They were left in the cold for 10 days
with no food or water.
So he saved more people than just his workers.
The List
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The list was actually made by Marcel Goldberg,
the greedy Jewish policeman in the film.
This was the source of much bitterness.
Only those who bribed him got on the list.
Schindler said, he did not have the time to
constantly check up on him.
Some survivors threatened Schindler because
of this.
The Film
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It took more than a decade to prepare to make
the film.
The shooting of the film was done in actual
locations.
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The interior and exterior of Schindler’s apartment.
The interior and exterior of the prison.
Almost every place was authentic.
The Plaszow camp was recreated.
The shot in Auschwitz had to be shot outside the gate
because of resistance to having a film shot inside.
Steven Spielberg
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The world’s most commercially successful film
maker.
Perhaps best known for Jurasic Park and
Indiana Jones.
For him, the film was a personal reawakening of
his Jewish faith.
He found a great deal of anti-Semitism exists in
Poland still today. There were several incidents.
Poland
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Very few Jews live in Poland today.
Because of the anti-Semitism that still
exists there, Jews do not want to return.
Unfortunately, Hitler was especially
successful in murdering most of the
eastern European Jews.
Discussion Questions
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How does this film compare to other films
we have seen so far?
How does it use imagery and color?
What techniques does the film maker use?
Is the film successful in representing the
Holocaust? Why or why not?
How is Schindler established as a
character?
Discussion Questions
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How is the changing relationship with
Stern depicted?
What does the scene in which Schindler
moves into his apartment represent?
How does the film show the bureaucracy,
the obsession with order, that
characterized the Holocaust?
Discussion Questions
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What is the function of the scene in which
Schindler chooses a secretary?
What is the function of the scene in which
he is speaking to his wife about being
remembered as the man who came with
nothing and left with two steamer trucks
filled with all the riches of the world?
Discussion Questions
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What is the function of the scene in which
he is confronted with the gratitude of the
one armed man?
What does the scene in which Stern is
almost taken to a camp show?
What is the relationship between Helen
Hirsch and Goeth like? How does he feel
about her? What does this show?
Discussion Questions
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What does Goeth say about history? Today is
history? What does he mean by that and why is
it in the film?
What is the relationship between Goeth and
Schindler? Are they alike? What do they think
of each other?
Does the film portray a turning point for
Schindler? Or is there more than one? Does
one stand out? Why does it stand out? What
techniques does the film maker employ to make
it stand out?
Discussion Questions
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What is the significance of the scene in which
the rabbi making hinges is almost shot?
At one point Schindler begins to get rather
brazen with his requests to help the Jews.
Especially during the train episode in which he
helps them get water. What does this scene
show about his position among the Nazis?
What do you think of the scene in Schindler’s
List in which he is given the ring?
Discussion Questions
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Why does he put on a camp uniform when
he leaves the camp?
Who are the people putting stones on
Schindler’s grave in Israel?