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Schindler’s List

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Schindler’s List

Part II: Engaging with the text

Characters

The characters in Schindler’s List are very different because of their attitudes towards the Holocaust. The three main characters that will be focused on are Oskar Schindler, Itzhak Stern and Amon Goeth. These characters were very influential during the Holocaust; therefore, it is important to analyze these characters to gain a better understanding of the film.

Oskar Schindler

Our first introduction to Oskar Schindler was as a customer in a fancy restaurant. My first impression of Oskar Schindler was a rich and powerful business man. He was well-dressed and well-mannered; therefore, he must be from a higher class. He flashed his pile of money a couple of times to pay for …show more content…

This means that Oskar was unaware of the mass-murdered that rampaged throughout Germany, until he saw that little girl. Oskar’s treatments towards the Jews clearly changed after he saw that little girl. Others also recognized that Oskar treated the Jews with kindness unlike other Germans. For instance, a girl came begging for Oskar to help her parents from the concentration camp. She stated other Jews claimed that Oskar’s factory was like heaven. The word heaven shows that Oskar was a very good man because it was rare to hear the Jews describing German factories in a positive way. Also, the change in Oskar was shown when he told Amon that power is not the ability to kill. Power is when a man had every justification to kill but chose not to. This was one of the most powerful lines in the film because it greatly contrasted with the Nazi’s point-of-view. Furthermore, Oskar was trying to persuade Amon to think before killing an innocent Jew. Itzhak Stern is another person who influences Oskar to change his attitudes towards the Jews.

Itzhak Stern, who was Jewish, worked with Oskar as Oskar’s accountant. Oskar generally treated Stern very kindly but I suspected that it was only because Stern was running his business. However, Oskar started to show his caring side towards Stern later on in the film. For instance, Stern was about to be transported because he forgot his work transcript. Oskar used his influence to threaten the guards and finally rescue

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