...Schindler’s List Essay Oskar Schindler would never have been anyone’s ideal savior, especially for the Jewish community. He was an open member of the Nazi party, a womanizer, a gambler, an alcoholic, and an extremely money hungry man, but insight of all of this he was successfully able to rescue over twelve hundred Jewish men and women from death. Schindler was a very tall and handsome man. Needless to say, he was adored by all the young women he met eyes with. However, Schindler fell for a beautiful young girl named Emily. After only six weeks of courtship, they were married. Sadly, after only a few months of marriage, Schindler began to heavily abuse alcohol. He also had several affairs resulting in two children out of wedlock. In 1929, during the Great Depression, the Schindler family business went bankrupt. At this time, Schindler’s father left his mother, and she died soon after. Finding himself jobless, Schindler sought work in nearby Poland as a machinery salesman. The saving of the first Schindler Jews began in 1939, when he came to Krakow in the wake of the German invasion. In Krakow, he took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of kitchenware products. In one of the businesses, however, Schindler was merely a trustee. Looking more for his own power, he opened up a small enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. Here, he employed mostly Jewish workers. This in turn saved them from being...
Words: 1926 - Pages: 8
...solitary individual can have on this world is best portrayed through the lines: “Whoever spares one life spares the world whole.”(Stern) At a point when Schindler arranged to escape from the Allies, the Schindlerjuden gave Schindler a gold ring produced using gold fillings, engraved with the above citation from the Talmud, the book of Jewish law. After the Allied triumphed, Schindler was a chased war criminal. At the point when the specialists heard he should escape, they made him the ring as a little token of their thankfulness, realizing that there was no real way to reimburse the endowment of life. Stern exhibited the ring to Schindler, revealing to him the citation was from the Talmud. The Jews needed Schindler to realize that by...
Words: 898 - Pages: 4
...The germans occupation of Poland was an ideal situation for a man like Oskar Schindler, a businessman and opportunist. Krakow was made seat of government for Nazi-occupied Poland. As more Officers and SS troop entered the city, new ways to profit from the conflict arose. One of the first scenes in the movie shows Schindler for the opportunist he was. He is shown drinking, laughing with and befriending high ranking Nazi Officers. The Nazis brought new opportunities for profit and Schindler makes sure to cultivate the right contacts to assure that he will secure his share. In 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. In real life, within a week of the invasion, Schindler moved to Krakow to find a way to benefit from the Nazis occupation. During this time he met Itzhak Stern. With money he borrowed from aquaintences of Stern’s, Schindler purchased a kitchenware factory and opened it in 1940 He hired Stern as his accountant and used Jews from Kracow ghetto as his work force. During this time Shindler had cultivated friendships with Officers in both the German Army and the SS. Through these friendships and with a few bribes, Schindler was able to secure numerous army contracts for pots and pans manufactured in his newly opened kitchenware factory. The persecution of Jews began immediately after the German Occupation. The Germans took over Jewish properties and seized companies, houses and valuables. The Jewish living quarter, know as the Krakow Ghetto was created on March 3...
Words: 598 - Pages: 3
... Beginning with a character named Oskar Schindler who was a Nazi businessman interested in becoming a war profiteer. Schindler capitalizes on the changing economic times and war with a goal of economic gain. He begins this scheme by befriending the Nazi SS officers and later to befriend a well known successful Jewish accountant, Itzhak Stern. Schindler’s goal is to take over a confiscated pots and pans company and turn it into a manufacturing company to provide cookware kits for the troops. Manpower for such a plant is more profitable with Jewish employees that get paid less than the Polish. The Jewish employee’s compensation is being paid back in products that can be traded on the black market as well as safe keeping from becoming shipped off to concentration camps. As time goes on and the Nazi’s force the Jews into small walled-in areas referred to as ghettos. The only was to leave the ghetto was to have worker paperwork. Without your paperwork you were subject to consequences to include execution. With Schindler’s factory becoming known as a safe place, more people wanted to work for him in any capacity. With the influence of Stern and the increasing gravity of the situation in Krakow, Schindler seemed to become more protective over the Jewish especially his employees. A keen example of this is when Stern was placed on a cattle car to possibly go to a concentration camp because he forgot his work papers and Schindler was adamant in finding and saving him...
Words: 631 - Pages: 3
...I believe that Oskar Schindler made a difference in history. The reason is that he bribed his money to have Jews work for him in order to keep his business going on during the war. Schindler is a member of the Nazi party and he bribed and paid money to the SS so that they would not execute the Jews and or hurt them. The Jews were thankful when he saved them from death and poor hospitality. Another person that is like Oskar Schindler is Berthold Beitz who is an director of an oil refinery in Poland. Oskar Schindler made a difference in history. Schindler saved 1,200 Jewish lives from certain death. The reason for that action is that he would not lose business of making products during the war. Later on, he would have his business produce ammunition for the war to support the Nazis that are fighting the Allies. The Jews were forced to make different types of ammunition that the Nazi’s used in the war. In the next paragraph, we would talk about how Schindler got the Jews....
Words: 571 - Pages: 3
...Oskar Schindler was born in 1908 in the city of Zwittau, Moravia which is now part of the Czech Republic. Oskar grew up and attended a German-language school. Oskar's mother, Louisa Schindler, was a homemaker father, and Oskar’s father, Hans Schindler, was a factory owner . Oskar had one younger sister named Elfriede.. when Oskar was child, Schindler was popular and had many friends, but he was not a good student at all. In the middle of his friends were two sons of a rabbi. In the 1920s Schindler worked for his father selling farm equipment. In 1928, Oskar married a young woman named Emilie which caused problems in Oskar and his dad’s relationship which eventually led to Oskar leaving the family business. Meanwhile, the political landscape in Europe was undergoing major changes, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party began their rise to power. Hitler began stirring up ethnic feelings among the Sudeten Germans, pointing out that their "rightful" ties were with Germany, not Czechoslovakia. By 1935 many Sudeten Germans joined the pro-Nazi Sudeten German Party. Schindler joined, too—not out...
Words: 1423 - Pages: 6
...opens showing the Polish Jews being forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto by the Germans. Shortly after, German businessman Oskar Schindler leaves Moravia and arrives in Krakow, looking to make money off of this relocation. Schindler was a member of the Nazi party and hosts an event for SS officials, where he showers them with praise in hopes of obtaining a factory of his own. He then enlists the help of a man named Itzhak Stern, who was an official at Krakow’s Jewish Council, to hire Jewish people to be his factory workers. This was beneficial for Schindler because Jewish workers were cheaper. In exchange for working in his factory, he would supply them with products...
Words: 837 - Pages: 4
...Oskar Schindler was a man of business during World War II. At the beginning of the film he was very greedy and was only in the business for the money. By the end of the film, he was wishing he could’ve saved more Jews and was crying over how he didn’t think about all the other things he could’ve sold to save more. The things that caused his changes were him opening his eyes and realizing what was really happening around him. He saw the innocent killing of the Jews and even though he was Nazi, he still believed that killing them just because they were Jew’s was wrong. I believe that he didn’t like that and he tried to change it. I believe Schindler did what he did because he wanted money, but in the end he turned to a different view. He looked at it as what can I do to save more Jews. I’m not completely convinced what he cared about...
Words: 942 - Pages: 4
...Film Viewer Opinion Paper HUM/150 December 01, 2012 Film Viewer Opinion Paper In this paper I will talk about why I choose this film. With the Movie Schindler’s List your imagination has no limits while watching it. Schindler’s List might just be one of worst movies to watch because of the horrific events that happened to the Jewish people during World War Two. A businessman named Oskar Shindler goes to a new city in Nazi-occupied Poland with the dreams of making a lot of money off the Nazis by making products with Jewish slave labor. After starting the plant Oskar start to understand what the Nazis are doing to the Jewish people and then starts to help them save their lives. I would have to say I do not think there is nothing enjoyable about the movie but was a great movie. Even with the horrific and terror on the people it was meant to be done for the reason that to give it a documentary-style of cinematography and the timeless sense of the film (Wikipedia, 2012). It was the understanding of ones love of historical films which make it enjoyable to watch. This is one of the best films ever that conveyed the real horror of the Holocaust by the Nazis. “Schindler's List blends the abject horror of the Holocaust with Steven Spielberg's signature tender humanism to create the director's dramatic masterpiece” (Rotten Tomatoes 2012). The violence in Schindler’s List is unenjoyably, which makes a lasting impression on you after watching the movie. The violence in the film...
Words: 398 - Pages: 2
...write the book, to raise awareness relating to the Holocaust system and the misery of thousands of Jews under the Nazis. At the same time, Keneally wanted the world to know about the good deeds of one man over evil. It was later made into a film in 1992, which won many academy awards as well. Schindler’s List tells the tale of a remarkable German businessman, Oskar Schindler, who with his wealth and manipulating abilities helps save the lives of thousands of Jews from being terminated by the Nazis. Keneally takes us back to 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and occupied its territory. Their extreme hatred towards the Jews forms one of the themes of this book. The Nazi soldiers were ordered to round up the Jewish families, separate the men and the women and move them to concentration camps. Set in Krakow, Poland, the book describes the conditions of the Polish Jews in these camps and their silent despair. Keneally describes Oskar’s childhood in his hometown Czechoslovakia. He describes his struggle to start a new life after moving to Poland. In search for a profitable business, Oskar meets Itzhak Stern, a Jewish advisory...
Words: 2024 - Pages: 9
...The holocaust is a tragedy that the entire world wished had never happened. In 1982 Thomas Keneally wrote Schindlers Ark which was based on the accounts from a Holocaust survivor. This story was later developed into a screenplay by Steven Zallian later to be a film directed by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg made the film to educate those who tried denying that persecution on such a grand scale ever happened. Though filmed in black and white the director chose to highlight a few images in color to draw attention and elicit emotion. The actress who portrayed “the little girl in red” is 24 years old now but the impact the film had on her disturbs her to this day. We are introduced to the girl in the screenplay on page 52; she is described as wearing small red shoes. In the movie the director chose a jacket instead of just the shoes. I think this was merely because it could be viewed easier by the audience. But why do both screenplay and movie use the color red. I believe red was chosen because it is a bold color that stands out but it is also the color of blood. It can be assumed that its significance was chosen to represent that amount of bloodshed during that time. The scene takes place in one of the ghetto’s. The screenplay describes this taking place during dawn. In the movie it appears to be later in the afternoon, but it is the weather that plays a more important role than the time of day. The movie sets the scene during a rainy and dreary day to coincide with the events that...
Words: 667 - Pages: 3
...Park was breaking records, we heard that Spielberg was in Europe filming, of all things, a black-and-white Holocaust drama. This came as a surprise, but it could never have prepared us for the experience of Schindler's List. And what an experience it is. It's not just another day at the movies, another piece of escapist fare. It is entertaining to be sure, but it is much more than that. It is gut-wrenching, emotional, and visionary. Sitting in the theater, I knew this was something special, a film and an experience I would never forget. Schindler's List is the true story of Oskar Schindler, an undeniably flawed man. A native German, he relocated to Cracow, Poland after it fell into German hands so he could capitalize on Jewish labor at slave wages. There he established an enamelware factory and made obscene amounts of money while wining, dining, and bribing Nazi officials to get his way. But while Schindler was profiting from the Jews' work, he was disgusted by the way the they were treated. He underwent an important change, slowly realizing that this was wrong and that he could do something about it. He began to use his money and influence to bring more Jews to his factory, a haven where they were not beaten or killed. By the end of World War II, Schindler's list of Jews to be saved had grown to over 1,000, and he had spent his entire fortune to buy their lives from the Nazis. To put it quite simply, the acting in Schindler's List is perfect. There is a literal cast of...
Words: 700 - Pages: 3
...turnitin.com and submit all research work Requirements: -At least 4 different sources, 2 databases, 1 book and 1 other. -An annotated source card for every source consulted -At least 50 note cards with notes from your research. At least 20 of those note cards should have direct quotes -A working thesis statement -A sentence outline -A 2-4 page research paper -A formal MLA works cited page (using the main sources from your source cards) Library Dates: Period 4- 11/18, 11/20, 11/26 Period 5- 11/18, 11/19, 11/25 Topic Ideas Survivors of Genocide Righteous Gentiles Danish Boat Resuce Chambon sur Lignon- Village in France Jewish Resistance Movements Simon Wiesenthal- Holocaust Rescuer Raoul Wallenberg – Holocaust Rescuer Oskar Schindler – Holocaust Rescuer Elie Wiesel – Victim and author Miep Gies – Dutch citizen who hid Anne Frank Voyage of The St. Louis Kindertransport – Series of transport systems designed to get Jewish children out of harm’s way Roméo Dallaire- Rescuer during Rwanda genocide Philippe...
Words: 464 - Pages: 2
...his safety 1,100 Jews, keeping them alive past the Holocaust, allowing them to grow and start new lives. In the movie Schindler’s List directed by Steven Spielberg, Oskar Schindler risks his life to save the Jews not only for his own egotistical needs, but to also help the Jews he has come to know. For Oskar Schindler, saving the Jews comes as an act of egotism, saving them for his own personal gain. In the beginning, Oskar solely operates on popularity, gaining his power and prosperity in this manner. The movie introduces Oskar as a “victimizer” (Ebert), gaining his popularity by conning and bribing the Nazi’s. By giving the Nazi officers lavishing gifts such as champagne and cigars, Oskar works his way up the social ladder, making himself quite known in the Nazi community. In addition, with this respect, Schindler starts to use his power and popularity to his own advantage. As commented in Ebert’s review, because of Oskar’s popularity the “authorities are happy to help him open a factory to build enameled cooking utensils that army kitchens can use.” This allows Oskar to set up his factory and begin looking for workers. Furthermore, to keep up his popularity, Schindler begins to look for an easy way to gain money. In his attempt to gain money, Schindler searches for cheap labor. Through this business Schindler employs many of the Jews from the concentration camps as his workers and uses them for slave labor. Additionally, through the employment of the factory, many of the...
Words: 826 - Pages: 4
...What is the theme of the movie? It is a 1993 American drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand (1100) Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust of World War II by employing these people in his factories. Oskar is just like most men. He has a love for good wine, beautiful women, and pursues happiness through the success of his business. But on his journey to a successful business, millions of Jews (6 millions) were being killed during a time which most label as one of the darkest periods of human history. What does “Schindler’s List” stand for? It stands for the Jewish workers that Schindler bought from the German officer, Goeth, to work in his factory, the 1100 Jewish people that he saved eventually. Who were the best performing characters of the movie? Liam Neeson does well (as Oskar Schindler), but in particular I liked Ben Kingsley (as Istak Stern, Schindler's accountant) and Ralph Fiennes (as Amon Goeth, the camp commandant). All of the performances were very convincing and reflect the good casting. What was the color of the movie? The color of the movie was mostly in black and whit. Black and white give a historical connotation to the movie which in my opinion made it very distinctive. There were a very few colorized scenes though (the Jews praying at the beginning/ the Jews putting small rocks on Schindler’s grave) Why do we still make movies about world war II? The story of the Holocaust needs...
Words: 923 - Pages: 4
