Oskar Schindler 's Influence On His Life

Oskar Schindler’s identity drastically changes from the beginning to the end of the movie. At first, Schindler was a greedy, selfish, and rich man, who was a member of the Nazi party and profited from the war. He also was a womanizer who constantly cheated on his wife. He only cared about making money and he only hired Jewish workers because they were cheaper. He saved his workers initially because he did not want to pay to train other workers and protected them since he believed that their welfare impacted his business. He saw Jewish people differently than other Germans, he saw them as workers, and he inadvertently developed a reputation for kindness. He did not do this at first to be a

Victor Frankl once said, “Any person, regardless of the circumstances, can decide what shall become of them – mentally and spiritually.” This is true for Oskar Schindler and Amon Goeth, who both had very different reactions to World War II. Human goodness is when one sees the truth, accepts it, and makes rational decisions based on the truth. Human evil is irrational decision-making, and when a person sees and understands the truth but choses to defy it. In Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List, philosophers Kant and Rahner would agree that Schindler is a representation of human goodness, and Goeth represents human evil.

Oskar Schindler was not one to pass up an opportunity to make some money. He marched into Poland with the SS and dove head first into the black market. He soon began to make friends with the Gestapo, the secret state police, by softening them up with women, money and alcohol. His newfound connections helped him to acquire a factory, which he ran with the cheapest labor around, Jews. At first, it seemed like he was another German money-driven industrialist but somewhere along the way something changed.

Schindler's List is one of the most powerful movies of all time. It presents the indelible true story of enigmatic German businessman Oskar Schindler who becomes an unlikely saviour of more than 1100 Jews amid the barbaric Nazi reign. A German Catholic war profiteer, Schindler moved to Krakow in 1939 when Germany overran Poland. There he opens an enamelware factory that, on the advice of his Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern, was staffed by Jews from the nearby forced labour camp at Plaszow. Schindler's factory prospered though his contacts with the Nazi war machine and its local representatives, as well as his deft skill on the black market. Then, somewhere along the way, Schindler's devotion to self-interest was

He made sure that they were able to keep their lives. He did this by preventing those people from being shipped to concentration camps or killed on sight. Proof that Schindler took care of his workers is that after the war ended, some of his “Schindlerjuden” took care of him and “honored him” (JewishVirtualLibrary.org). If Schindler had shown them cruelty why would some of them make sure that he was taken care of? These people did not care that he had been a drunk, or that he dishonored his marriage vows. All they saw was a man who had taken a risk to save their lives. To many, there was no way they could repay him for his actions. That is why they honored him as they did and took care of him. They do not know why Schindler decided to save them, but all that matters is that he did.

In the beginning of the film, Oskar Schindler is a man who is intrigued by anyway to make money. In the past, he has mostly been a failed businessman who is extremely persistent and will stop at nothing to become a profiteer. Schindler however, has an idea, unlike any idea he has ever had in the past. In the beginning of the film, he bribes and communicates with many German officials just as the war is beginning so he can gain access to jews and their free labor. He is an exceptionally greedy man who will abuse his power and social status to make money even if it’s through the blood, sweat, and tears of other individuals. At the beginning of the film, Schindler proclaims, “In every business I tried, I can see now, it wasn't me that failed. Something was missing.” He expresses that the reason for his success in his newly found business can be credited to war. This quote clearly indicates his extreme desire for wealth. However, over time he begins to adjust and modify his behaviors as a result of his friendship with a Jewish man named Itzhak Stern, who also is a manager of his business. As time goes on he begins to protect his workers and save them from concentration camps proclaiming that they are “essential workers” for the war effort. Schindler has now begun to understand that jews

Oskar Schindler was a hero in World War II. He endured many conflicts. The main battle he faced was during World War II. During World War II, Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who saved Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from death by employing them in his factory (“Oskar Schindler” 362).

Soon after the war began Schindler completely abandoned his selfish desires of gaining wealth and power and started building factories in Poland so he can start employing Jewish workers, which saved them from being killed. Though from doing this started to get the SS's attention and eventually led him to being arrested twice. Even from all these obstacles, Schindler still did not give up and kept all his factories running and kept them as a haven for the Jews. Schindler managed to remain on excellent terms with German officials through expensive gifts and bribery. On the other hand Schindler stood out and bravely defied his German allies for something he strongly believed was right. In 1941 German-occupied Poland was a country bursting with racism and hatred against Jews. The

Schindler was a rescuer of the jews because he was not a fan of how they were treated. When asked why he saved them he replied by saying “I knew the people who worked for me. When you know people, you have to behave towards them like human beings.” Unlike the nazis and Hitler, Oscar Schindler saw jews as normal human beings and did not use them and make them do manual labor just to survive and not be killed. He did make them work just so the nazis did not come in and just kill all of them or take them back to a concentration camp and abuse them. The condition Oscar Schindler had was when he had the jews working for him that he didn’t want them to make any of the bullets functional and allow them to be fired and kill

Oskar Schindler wanted to save as many people as he could and to do that he was willing to do anything. " He spent every bit of money he had left in his possession and traded his wife's jewelry." ( Steinhouse 9) When he had made enough he furnished a secret hospital for the Jews. This shows how dedicated he was to saving people and how important it was to him. Another reason he was willing to do anything was that he knew, what was going to happen to them if he didn't step in and help. To keep the SS away his "employees records were falsified. Old people were recorded as being twenty years younger, children were listed as adults. Lawyers, doctors, and engineers were registered as metal workers." (Steinhouse 4) This example tells you how much he cared about keeping these people safe. Lastly, he took so many risks to help them but through it all he had to have hope. Cause if he didn’t all his workers wouldn't have any either. "Perhaps I had become fatalistic, or perhaps I was just afraid of the danger that would come once the men began to lose hope and acted rashly. I had to keep them full of optimism." (Stienhouse 10) When Schindler said that, he showed the world how selfless he was. He never once thought about himself, it was always about those who were worse off. Oskar Schindler helped many people in many different way, he never let anything stop

helped so many Jewish people. Schindler definitely was not a man of many morals, but his

Oskar Schindler faced many conflicts in his life. The main conflict he faced was overcoming the Nazis and saving over one thousand Jewish People. Schindler, with out a job at the time, joined the Nazi Party and followed on the heels of the SS when the Germans invaded Poland. This is when Schindler took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products and opened up his own enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. There, he employed mostly Jewish workers, which saved them from being deported to labor camps. Though twice the Gestapo arrested him, he got released because of his many connections and with many bribes. Most

Watching Schindler's list I decided to focus on Oskar Schindler. Throughout the movie Schindler personal emotions change on the war. In the beginning we see that it was a good thing for business that nothing else mattered as long as he made money. When Jews would come up he wouldn't care about them because he knew he could manipulate them and earn more money since they needed him. Schindler didn't really care for the Jews and what would happen to them. We see that Schindler only concern is that his business profits in the war. His concern for going to parties were to make connection that would better his money earning business. Money was his only concern which is why he went out seeking a jew. Since having a jew made it so they could be payed less than a normal person and they would be to scared to not do work. If he got a Jew it would earn him more money than hiring a German accountant. After getting an accountant he goes and seek workers for his factory. The workers are Jews since they don't need to be payed to be working. We later learn that his wife influences him with making business and wanting to succeed. He came from a place where he had nothing and is just beginning to make it. Hes making so much money he doesn't know what to do and he thanks the war for that. With his business doing so well he starts to care about his workers. He cares about them because he needs them to continue making the money.He starts really caring about his accountant Stern he makes sure he

[War] brings out the worst in people. Never the good, always the bad. Even in the midst the devastation of a national genocide, where one race turned against another in hate, good people existed and worked to counteract the hate through love and compassion. Oskar Schindler was one of these people. World War II provided him the means to become a very wealthy and powerful man, yet he did not exploit the Jews like many other businessmen during his time. He used his money and power to save thousands. Much can be learned from what happened during the holocaust and what Schindler did to save thousands of Jews.

Schindler risked his life to save the Jews, as his growing compassion towards the Jews took over him; he is a human being, who is sensitive to the suffering of others, which is why witnessing such horror changed his character significantly. Drinking and partying were ideals of Schindler's lifestyle, yet he left all of it to help people he had no personal connection towards; he spent all his money in efforts to save the Jews, and still wanted to save more. In the last scene of the movie, Schindler is distraught and heartbroken, as he looks towards his car stating, “This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.”; even in his final moments with the Jews, he believes he could have saved more, even though, he had saved 1100 single handedly. Therefore, his motive was humanity, as no one can idly stand by as individuals are stripped of their lives and slaughtered like animals; you are no less of an animal if you can kill and torture without feeling. Witnessing the unprecedented suffering and unwarranted horrors of