Schindler's List By: Thomas Keneally

1. Schindler's List By: Thomas Keneally

2. Swastika Is the swastika good or evil?

3. Introduction Recreates the true story of Oskar Schindler, the German industrialist who risked his life to save over 1100 of his Jewish factory workers from the death camps in Nazi-occupied Poland “Documentary novel” Based on the recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler's Jews), Schindler himself, and other witnesses Told in a series of snapshot stories, with some historical commentary by Keneally

4. Recounts the lives of the flamboyant profiteer and womanizer Schindler; Schindler's long-suffering wife, Emilie; the brutal SS (Nazi secret police) commandant Amon Goeth; Schinder's quietly courageous factory manager, Itzhak Stern; and dozens of other Jews who underwent the horrors of Nazi machinery Center of the story: actions and ambitions of Schindler

5. It is the story of Schindler's unlikely heroism and of one man's attempt to do good in the midst of outrageous evil Explores the complex nature of virtue, the importance of individual human life, the role of witnesses to the Holocaust, and the attention to rules and details that sustained the Nazi system of terror “Schindler's Ark”

6. Main Characters Oskar Schindler (protagonist) Emilie Schindler Hans Schindler Amon Goeth (antagonist) Itzhak Stern Leopold Pfefferberg Schindlerjuden Helen Hirsch Genia

7. Conflicts External – as he attempts to save Jewish lives Schindler vs. Nazi regime Schindler vs. Goeth Internal – with regard to how much he must play along with the system Schindler vs. himself Jews vs. Nazis (throughout the whole novel)

8. Symbols & Imagery Lists Genia Gods, heroes, kings

9. Themes He who saves a single life saves the entire world In dark times we must rely on flawed heroes War brings out some of the best and some of the worst human impulses The pragmatic triumph of good over evil The dangers of too much ambition

10. OSKAR SCHINDLER

11. 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

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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.”

16. 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.”

17. 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.

18. 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.

19. 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.

20. 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.

21. While with the Americans • He gave American investigators evidence against his former Nazi drinking buddies. • American Jews helped get him to Switzerland.

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. 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.

28. 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.

29. 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.

30. 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.

31. 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.

32. 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?

33. 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?

34. 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?

35. 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?

36. 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?

37. 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?

38. 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?

39. Prologue

40. Chapter 1 • Oskar's early years [p.31] • 2. Oskar's early childhood / defending Jews [p.33] • 3. Rabbi Kantor's idea of the Jewish race and those who oppress them / quote at the end [p.34] • 4. Race, blood, and soil meant little to the adolescent Schindler [p.34] • 5. Describes Oskar's best and most innocent summer…at this point in his life he is apolitical…he has no political devotions [p.35] • 6. Oskar's first marriage [p.36]

41. Oskar and Emilie / the confusion about why they married each other…the stubbornness of Oskar and Emilie in befriending the Jews. They are both more alike than they think [p.36] • 8. Oskar and Emilie's life in Zwittau / life in the 30s / Oskar and Hans' (his father) similarities [p.37] • 9. Oskar's sense that history and the times were going to shift…his desperate need to be a part of it / Oskar did not expect the party to be like that at all [p.38]

42. 10. Irony – the two opinions he respected the most were the two people he disliked the most / comparison of Oskar & Napoleon : first there was triumph and then he was a nobody [p.38] • 11. Hans Schindler's lessons of life [p.39] • 12. Oskar's job as intelligence agent of Admiral Canaris' Abwehr • 13. Oskar's initial belief in the German advance into Poland / him and his Abwehr colleagues begin to detest Himmler, the SS and Nazi control [p.40] • 14. Oskar's unknown findings / Polish army's secrets [p.40]

43. Important Chapter Notes • The conquest of Poland by the German troops • Provides a character sketch of Schindler • The chapter ends with Schindler's obvious doubts about what his party (the Nazis) are doing and what they will be doing

44. Chapter 2 During WWII, many people, especially Nazis had doubts about what was happening to the Jews. Schindler expresses his doubts here about what is happening. People said nothing because they thought they had no choice. (41) It wasn’t only Schindler who had doubts about what was happening. A lot of soldiers had doubts about what was happening, but said nothing (42) (43) Schindler meets Itzhak Stern (IMPORTANT). Stern is an important person in this novel – he is one of the few Jews that Schindler trusts with his life. He becomes someone that Schindler goes to for just about everything during the war.

45. (44) On first impressions, Stern did not like Schindler; he thought he was arrogant and unmanageable. At this point in time, Schindler wore the swastika 'proudly'...he wore it kind of without realizing what he was wearing. Stern did not really know what he was all about yet. (44) Stern was a man who had to live under many rules. His life was easily controlled, so to even have a discussion with a German was very difficult. IMPORTANT = Stern resented Schindler simply because he was a Nazi – this contrasts/compares with the Nazis judging the entire Jewish race because they were simply Jews. (46) Stern wonders why Schindler would value his opinion = during that time, no one valued any Jew's opinions over anything

46. (47) Schindler decides to set up a an enamelware factory for employment, and he wants Stern to help him establish it. Stern warns him that he cannot hire “just anyone”. Schindler is amused by him. (48) Schindler discusses Christianity's roots in Judaism and how everyone is not that different. He is trying to have a civil discussion with a Jewish man – this was unheard of at this time. (48) This is an important discussion between Stern & Schindler. It establishes the important relationship between them from here until the end of the war. It is here that Schindler reveals, but doesn't reveal his true intentions.

47. Stern says one of the recurring sentiments in this novel here: “He who saves the life of one man saves the entire world.” This is an extremely important exchange between the two men simply because it is at this moment in time when Schindler decides to create this factory for the Jews. It is also at this moment when Schindler decides that Stern would be a great ally for him. Stern also believes that he planted a seed in Schindler's mind at that moment as well.

48. It wasn't only Schindler who had doubts about what was happening. A lot of soldiers had doubts about what was happening, but said nothing [p.42] • 2. Schindler meets Itzhak Stern [p.42] • 3. Introduction to Stern – his character & his importance [p.43] • 4. Stern's first impressions of Aue & Schindler [p.44]

49. 5. All the edicts/rules the Jews must follow and Stern's resentment of Schindler here [p.44] • 6. Oskar would value Stern's opinion [p.46] • 7. Schindler's interest in opening his own factory / Stern's explanation of rules [p.47] • 8. Schindler's discussion of the similarities between Judaism and Christianity / Oskar's comments about life / THEME [p.48]

50. Important Chapter Points • Stern's final comments plant the seeds in Schindler's mind • Schindler has an outstanding respect for Stern