The Holocaust In Schindler's List By Thomas Keneally

The movie “Schindler’s list” is a compelling, real-life depiction of the events that occurred during the 1940’s. It illustrates the persecution and horrific killings of the Jewish people. It also exemplifies the hope and will of the Jewish people, which undoubtedly is a factor in the survival of their race. The most important factor however is because of the willingness of one man, Oskar Schindler, to stand out and make a difference.

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

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

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

Oskar Schindler saved thousands of Jewish people from the horrible tragedy that was the Holocaust. Some would say, at one point in Schindler 's life, he was an aryan man with no financial problems whatsoever. Schindler was truly a brave man that sacrificed his life for many others. Schindler simply saved others out of the goodness from his heart. “Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) was born on April 28, 1908, in Svitavy (Zwittau), Moravia, at that time a province of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). “Schindler grew up with all the privileges money could buy. He was born Catholic…” (Jewish Virtual Library). “Oscar’s parents Johann Schindler and Francisca nee Luser were both Germans from Silesia, who had settled in Svitavy, where he worked in insurance, and the selling of electrical generators for domestic purposes, and dealing with farm machinery” (Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team). “A sister Elfriede was born in 1915 - Oskar was very close to her, as was his relationship with his mother. After leaving full time education, Schindler worked in the family business in Svitavy, after a short break he commuted to Brno, where he worked for an electrical company called Moravska Elektotechnica (M.E.A.S.), as a representative.” “After attending a series of trade schools in Brno and marrying Emilie Pelzl in 1928, Schindler held a variety of jobs, including working in his father 's farm machinery business in Svitavy, opening a driving school in Sumperk, and

Schindler was a businessman that was set on making a great deal of money. He had many connections and an abundance of friends in the illicit business. “Never one to miss a chance to make money, he marched into Poland on the heels of the SS. He dived headfirst into the black-market and the underworld and soon made friends with the local Gestapo bigwigs, softening them up with women, money and illicit booze. His newfound connections helped him acquire a factory which he ran with the cheapest labor around: Jewish” (Jewish Virtual Library). “At first he seemed like every other usurping German industrialist, driven by profit and unmoved by the means of his profiteering. But somewhere along the line, something changed.” “In February 1939, five months after the German annexation of the Sudetenland, he joined the Nazi Party” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). “In December 1939, as occupied Poland was being torn apart by the savagery of the Holocaust, Schindler took his first faltering steps from

After Oskar gets hired as a Nazi, he “arrives in Krakow, and starts working in factories, hiring Jews. He becomes aware of the killings, gives information to Jewish underground organizations Oskar manages to open ‘subcamp’ at his factory where conditions are much better” (Roberts 99). If Schindler was caught doing this, he would have been captured, and put into a concentration camp himself. Oskar Schindler also risked his life many times when he traveled to different countries and managed to smuggle Jews to work in his factory: “Schindler’s journey to Budapest and his smuggling of the Zionists were activities that if Schindler had been caught, he would have been charged of treason and would have been imprisoned in a concentration camp to torture and murder him” (McConnell 206). Oskar Schindler was an unforgettable man that put his life in danger to save as many defenseless Jews as possible. When he rescued the men and women in the camps, he gave them jobs at his

Schindler was a businessman who was insensitive, cruel, money hungry and a womanizer. He forced Jews out of their homes, jobs, and forced them to work in his factory. Schindler’s List is about the life of Oskar Schindler who saves Jews during the Second World War, from the Nazi’s. Schindler once was a part of the Nazi party. He realizes what the Nazis are trying to do to the European Jews and he did whatever he could to save as many as he could.

“There was no choice.” Schindler said these words, reflecting on his moral decision to save over 1000 Jews from death and labor camps. He knew there was a right way, and also a wrong way, morally, and that he had no other option. For other industrialists in Schindler 's position, it wasn 't as easy a choice. During the Third Reich, German industrialists had a moral decision to make: whether to cooperate with the Nazis and profit from the persecution of Jews, or to resist and risk their lives and fortune. The Nazis created laws in order to persecute Jews, which contributed to the industrialists’ decisions. In 1939, Jews were made to wear identifying stars, and they were forced to live together in isolated ghettos. In the next few years, more laws were passed inflicting pain and cruelty upon Jews. Then, the Nazis moved beyond persecution, and threatened Jewish people’s jobs and economic stability. First, Jews had to register their property, and then, their privately-owned businesses were sold to non-Jewish German industrialists at a very low price. When their companies were sold, all of their managers and employees were kicked out. Later, once Jews were forced to work in non-Jewish Germans’ factories, a rule was passed in the spring of 1940, declaring that the wages of all the Jewish workers went directly to the SS, instead of the actual workers. Soon after, everyone except for “work-essential” Jews had to leave the city, causing every Jew to desperately try to find

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.