Schindler’s List

Oskar Schindler

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

People called him: 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

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

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

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)

“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

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

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

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

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

He gave American investigators evidence against his former Nazi drinking buddies.

American Jews helped get him to Switzerland.

After the war

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

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

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

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

Everywhere the “Schindler Jews” got preferential treatment. Accurate.

Shows Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia 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

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

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

It took more than a decade to prepare to make the film.

The shooting of the film was done in actual locations. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?