BGSI

Movie review Schindlers List

Group- 1

Oskar Schindler is a vainglorious and greedy German
businessman. Oskar Schindler didn't hesitate to use
Jewish slave labor in his new factory. Oskar Schindler
was a member of the Nazi party. He arrived in
Cracow, Poland, just after the collapse of the Polish
Army and at the beginning of the German occupation.

Schindler is essentially apolitical but knows how to
deal with the bureaucracy and those in power to get
what he wants. His first effort, as shown in the film,
was to capitalize on the misfortune of the Jews who
had recently been forbidden to engage in business.
Over time, he is deeply affected by the treatment of
Jews and begins to take steps to protect the 1500 or so
people who work for him.

Schindler spent his evenings entertaining the SS and
German Army officers. His apparent political
reliability and his engaging personality made him
popular among the Nazi elite. During the day,
Schindler would entertain officials and visitors to the
factory, pouring them drinks, telling them that he knew
how to get work out of the Jews and that he wanted
more brought into his factory. In this way, he managed
to bring into the plant and save from the gas chamber
intellectuals, artists, and the families and relatives of
his workers.

He convinces the authorities to build a new factory
where the employees are interned and goes out of his
way to hire those who face the wrath of the camp
commandant, Amon Goeth. When the camp is closed,
he arranges for "his" Jews to be transferred to a new
factory in Czechoslovakia. When the train carrying the
women is diverted to Auschwitz, he races to have them
freed using a part of his fortune to have them released
to him. By the end of the war, Schindler has lost
everything but has saved the lives of over 1000 of his
employees

BGSI Aspects

At the beginning of the war Schindler was a greedy high
living war profiteer anxious to make money from the
misfortune of the Jews. By the end of the war, what was
his attitude toward money? What made him
change? What does it imply?
At the end of the war money meant nothing to Schindler
if it could save the life of another person. In this movie it
is shown that a person who cheats in business or despoils
the environment to make money will turn around and
make large donations to a charity. Mass killings were
beyond Oskar Schindler's limit and he had the courage of
cheating the system.



Has the Holocaust changed the actions of political
leaders in the time since it occurred?
The Holocaust has helped world leaders understand that
they cannot sit idly by and allow genocide to occur.
However, it has not been enough to make them act to
prevent all further genocides. There have been mass
killings on several occasions.

Exploitation of jews
Cheating the german government (selling defective
shells)