One of the greatest historical novels to be written in the 20th century, Schindler’s List is a true masterpiece written by Thomas Keneally several years after World War II. The book is set during World War II when Germany was under the reign of Adolf Hitler. Keneally, an Australian based writer was inspired to write the book by Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor. Published in the year 1982, the book is a remarkable piece of literature that has won many awards including the Booker Prize in 1982. Keneally began his writing career as a writer who wrote ordinary books until he met Poldek Pfefferberg, the man who encouraged him to write Schindler’s List. Pfefferberg met Keneally in one of his stores and requested him to 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 and seeks his help. Stern advises Oskar to take over a bankrupt business that produced enamelware in the past. Oskar is pleased with Stern’s advice and hires him as his assistant to take charge of all the hiring decisions. Happy to be given this opportunity, Stern puts forward another piece of advice of hiring Jewish laborers, since they worked for low salaries, which would generate more profit and also save them from being sent to concentration camps. Oskar, a kind hearted man agrees to Stern’s advice and informs him to prepare a list of Jewish workers that would work for him, so that he can convince the German army to release them from the concentration camps in Krakow. Krakow, in those days was a ghetto camp with thousands of Jews living in miserable conditions. After signing the official papers to lease his new enamel factory, Schindler, successfully and cleverly convinced the German government regarding his wish to hire Jews for his factory. Then on March 14, 1943 the German troops were given orders to kill all the Jews that were unfit of doing work. This day was called the liquidation of the Ghetto, where more than two thousand Jews were killed and others transported to the Plaszow Labor camp. Oskar was anxious and upset regarding the fate of the remaining Jews, and so he thought of a plan and using bribery, coercion and manipulative skills, he managed to gain permission from the German government to transport 1100 Jews to his home country, Czechoslovakia, where they could work in his factory. In this way Oskar became the savior of 1100 Jews from being terminated by the German Army. This act made him a legend among the Jewish community and in the future all the descendants of those saved came to be known as Schindler’s Jews. Schindler’s List is made up of a series of stories taking place in different time periods during World War II. Keneally provides details about the lives of many characters and their experiences in the ghetto camps. Their reactions to the history they witnessed are explained over the course of the novel. He interrupts his storytelling periodically to offer historical commentary or to mention what happened to a character after the war was over. Thus the action of the novel does not proceed chronologically but moves back and forth in time. Schindler’s List could be interpreted as a biography as well as a historical novel, since it talks about Oskar’s life and his heroic deeds as well as the policies of Germany and the horrible acts of the Nazis during World War II. This biography was well received by the public since it was a historical event that many in the world were not aware of. People were aware of the Holocaust System, but many were not aware of the horrifying details attached to it. Secondly, most of the people had no knowledge about the role Oskar Schindler played at that time. Keneally has mainly tried to grasp the attention of the adult population since his writing style is filled with intrigue and gruesome details about the Jews. It would appeal to someone who holds interest on the historical facts of Germany during World War II. The whole book gives a clear and precise understanding of the late 1930s when Germany was ruled by Adolf Hitler. Those who are not aware of the horrific treatment of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its related historical events would find this book a truly remarkable source of knowledge. This biographical historical novel is incomparable to anything written in the past. Though there have been better biographies about greater leaders written, this one simply leaves the reader in a state of shock regarding the treatment of the Jews. At the same time, it also leaves them in awe as to the plucky deeds by another German, Oskar Schindler. It was always assumed by the world that all the Germans had a role in the persecution of the Jews. But this book helps clarify the matter, that at least one German followed his heart and fought against the system. I have read other biographies like Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian Nation, where authors talk about his brave deeds and how he fought for the independence of India from the British rule. But none touched the hearts as Schindler’s List, as it describes the plight of the Jews in gruesome detail and at the same time it makes us believe in mankind with Oskar’s brave deeds. This book is truly recommended to those who would like to gain insight on the plight of the Jews under the Nazis and expand their knowledge on the politics and workings of the German army during World War II. Keneally focuses on various themes in his book, the most important one being the triumph of human spirit. The event that best describes this theme is a wedding in the Plaszow labor camp. Even though the Jews in Plaszów live in constant fear of death, including random shootings from a villa by camp overseer Amon Goeth, two people manage to fall in love. Though they know about their bleak future, they marry in the hope that they will survive and live happily forever. The entire book has events that describe this theme, since the Jews believed in unity and understand that helping each other was the only way to create hope. Another theme Keneally focuses on is the difference one individual can make to give hope to thousands of helpless people. If Oskar Schindler had not chosen to take the stand against evil, more than six thousand descendants of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler’s Jews) might never have been born. By conveying such themes to the reader, Keneally manages to raise the spirit of the reader. He condones the actions of the German soldiers and helps invoke sympathy for the prisoners in camps. Keneally is in all praises for Oskar and wants the world to appreciate his actions and his role in Jewish history. Thomas Keneally has written this book in a very different style as compared to his other works like ‘An Angel in Australia’ and ‘The Widow and her Hero’. His writing style in Schindler’s List is very descriptive, which makes the narration more convincing and informative. One aspect that stands out most in this book is the fact that Keneally has avoided the use of fiction making it easy to relate his ideas directly to the context. The author claims that he has attempted, however, to avoid all fiction, since fiction would debase the record, and to distinguish between reality and the myths which are likely to attach themselves to a man of Oskar’s stature. It is alarming to read the horrifying details and facts Keneally has used in his narration to portray the level of discrimination and hatred of the Germans towards the Jews. He mentions the use of signs and boards by the Germans with the term “Aktions”, which meant removal of Jews from Germany. These signs were hung from their home balconies for everyone to see and to humiliate them publicly. Some were bolder, hanging signs with racial remarks at the workplace such as, “Entrance forbidden to Jews and Dogs,” to show their uttermost bitterness towards them. The author has used some wide variety of languages in this book which sometimes confused me. One of the drawbacks of this book was the use of big German terms such as, “Obersturmbannfuhrer” or “Hauptsturmfuhrer,” which may confuse the audience since Keneally has not provided the meanings to these terms. Other foreign words used in the book like, Mussulman, were easy to relate to since they sounded similar to Hindi which is my native language. The story would have been better understood if Keneally used maps and pictures describing certain incidents and places, as he does go back and forth describing more than one country. The author focuses on multiple characters to narrate his story which does lend depth to the story. It is appreciable that to avoid any kind of controversy and to protect the privacy of former prisoners, Keneally uses abbreviations such as, the prisoner M*, when he is describing certain events in the book. Overall, I found this book very interesting as it provided in depth knowledge of the situation in Poland in the late 1930s and gave me a good insight on the Nazis and the Holocaust system. Keneally has mainly written this book for those who enjoy a lesson in history with actual facts. It may not be very accurate as the novel was written forty years after World War 2 and some facts could have been missed due to insufficient resources. I would in fact recommend this book to anyone who likes reading even if history is not their forte. It must be read at least once so that we know the extent of cruelty the Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazi Germans. With the use of direct sources such as interviews of survivors and visits to the ghetto camps, Keneally has managed to create a masterpiece and I think he truly deserved the Booker Prize award that he received in 1982.

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[ 8 ]. Keneally, Thomas. Schindler’s List. University of Michigan: Simon and Schuster, 1982.