Schindler’s List

Age Appropriateness:

Schindler’s List is rated R and includes scenes of graphic violence.  We do not recommend this film for anyone under age 16.

Summary:

Schindler’s List tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a member of the Nazi party who opens a business serving the German army using Jewish workers to decrease his costs.  As the film progresses, Schindler begins to connect to his Jewish employees and uses his position as a Nazi and business owner to secure their safety by claiming that they are necessary to the war effort.

 

Historical Accuracy:

• https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005787
• The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum has a full article on the true story of Oskar Schindler.
• Schindler joined the Nazi Party in February 1939
• Schindler bought a Jewish-owned factory and converted it into his own company under the German program which worked to take businesses from Jewish and Polish people
• Schindler used Jewish workers from the Krakow ghetto in one of his three factories
• The Jewish laborers Schindler helped still faced terrible conditions in the concentration camp
• Schindler permitted his Jewish laborers to hide in his factory when the Krakow ghetto was liquidated.
• Schindler was arrested by the SS and police three times but he was never charged
• Schindler opened an armaments factory where he had 1,200 Jewish workers
• The armaments factory created almost no ammunition during its entire period of operation
• Oskar Schindler was honored with the United States Holocaust Memorial Council’s Museum’s Medal of Remembrance

 

Discussion questions:

• Whose story does Schindler’s List tell?
• How are Jewish people portrayed in this film?
• What do you think about the film’s portrayal of Schindler? How does his character change over the course of the movie?  Is this type of change believable?
• What do you think about the film’s portrayal of Goeth?  Do you think he is an accurate representation of Nazis?  Why or why not?
• Which characters are given agency in the film?  Why do you think these characters are given agency?
• What do you think about the film’s use of graphic violence?  Do you think it serves a purpose?  Why or why not?
• Did you experience a particularly strong emotional reaction at any point in the film?  What do you think made you feel that way?  
• What questions do you still have after watching this film? (Please comment your answers below and our team will work to provide you with resources to answer them)

Our Take:

Schindler’s List complicates the Holocaust narrative in a way that forces viewers to struggle with their preconceptions.  The main character, Schindler, presents a complex portrayal of a Nazi.  At the beginning of the film, Schindler is actively contributing to the Nazi war effort and profiting from the oppression of Jewish people.  However, as the film progresses, Schindler’s perception of his Jewish workers shifts and he begins to try to protect them.  We liked the film’s effort to portray Nazis as real people who made choices; however, by the end of the film there seemed to be a very clear good-evil dichotomy presented between Schindler and Goeth, the leader of the concentration camp who shoots Jewish people in an almost sport-like fashion.  Another element of the film which we found to be problematic was the portrayal of the Jewish people as helpless victims who needed Schindler to save them.  Nearly all of the Jewish characters in the film were not developed beyond their oppressive circumstances.  This lack of character development creates a heightened sense of good versus evil and presented an over-simplified perspective of the human beings who were affected by the Holocaust.  One element of the film which we felt was meaningful for its transparency was the ending in which Holocaust survivors who were saved by Schindler placed stones on his grave.  This element of the film seemed to humanize the Jewish people in a way that the rest had not, and it also made overt the clearly pro-Israel stance of the film.