In a time of great depression; in the shadows of the Cracow ghetto, a miraculous story emerged about the growth of the human soul and the triumph of good over evil. It was the story of Oskar Schindler, a flamboyant German industrialist. He was a womanizer, a drunkard, a gambler and a bon viveur. In contrast, to 1,300 Jews, Oskar Schindler was an angel of hope. One survivor later said, ?Schindler is an angel dressed as a man...? Schindler's List is the story of a man who constantly opposed the SS, who ridiculed the system; a non-conformist who was transformed by the Holocaust and the war into a man with a mission, a saviour.
I raise the following points:
-He was raised in Austria-Hungary (Moravia) and spoke German. In essence, he WAS German. He had few Jewish friends. . ?The young Oskar should defend some bullied Jewish boy on the way home from school. It is a safe bet that it didn?t happen.? (33).
-He quickly became a womanizer. He was a man with few morals.
-In 1939, not wanting to miss out on a chance to make big money, he marched into Cracow on the heels of the SS. It was here that he made initial contact with a Jew named Itzhak Stern, who became his accountant. Stern set Oskar up with some wealthy Jewish investors, who lent Oskar money to open his factory. Stern became Oskar?s confidant in the following years. It was Stern himself that planted the seed Oskar needed. One day, while discussing religion, Oskar mentioned how it was difficult to believe that in an [era of hate, it was hard to believe that God cared about the death of a single sparrow] (48). It was then that Stern suggested that faith could be summed up in a single verse, ?he who saves the life of one man saves the entire world.? (48) It was this quote that describes Oskar?s actions perfectly: by saving a few single people, he was actually saving something more, a race, a culture, a story.
--Later, driven by profit, Oskar opened up an enamelware factory, He hired only Jewish labour, because it was the cheapest labour around.
--Oskar dove into the black-market, making friends with important German businessmen by softening them up with money, booze, cigarettes and women. Later, they helped him win his release from prison, after being arrested twice (once for black marketing and once for kissing a Jewess, breaking the Race and Resettlement Act).
--He looked down on the city of Cracow while it was being invaded by the Nazis. As he watched, he became fixated on a tiny young toddler in a red coat. She herself represented the horror of the killing below him: so visible, yet no one did anything about it. Oskar watched this girl, no more than three years old, who would have been a witness to the crimes of the ghetto as well. It was here that he truly realized that extermination was on the agenda.
?Beyond that day no thinking person could fail to see what would happen. I was now resolved to everything in my power to defeat the system? 133).
--Realizing the horrors of the Plasow work camp, run by Amon Goeth, Schindler's friend, , Schindler arranged to have a certain number of Jews moved to his factory, where they would sleep and work, thus saving them from Goeth and the horrors of the work camp
--Schindler arranged to have more special things done at his camp: ie. Hosing down of the cars, softening the big-wigs with booze, sausage, and prostitutes?etc.
--In the end, Schindler fled his camp to escape from the liberation it would soon receive. Theer was no tearful goodbye. He simply received the ring and left.
--More than anything it is the story of a transformation. And of one of the few people who had the courage to do something in a time of evil.
