A Summary of the Film “Schindler’s List”

1. Topic Summary

Schindler's list is a film set in the time of World War II. It follows the story of businessman Oskar Schindler who starts a factory working by Jews to get money. Over time, as the restrictions set by the Nazis on the Jews, it becomes harder and harder for Oskar to maintain control of his workers. Oskar jumps through many hurdles to keep his workers, such as making concentration camps for them, moving them to a new factory, and bribing officials to keep them. As the atrocities committed by the Nazis get worse, Oskar's humanity finds a foothold, and Oskar begins to work towards keeping as many Jews alive as he can.

2. Historical Accuracy

The movie was extremely realistic and was not afraid to show the extent of the crimes committed against the Jewish people in World War II. It followed the life of Oskar Schindler and his troubles to a very precise degree. It captured every face and every personality of even the minutest characters. The movie was well-researched and well-prepared. It didn't veer much from the view of the holocaust set by our textbooks and served to explain the holocaust in detail greater than any that could ever be gleaned from our textbook or notes. It brought the holocaust to life and conveyed the mental aspects of both the Jewish people and the Nazis perfectly.

3. Personal Reflection

Schindler's list revealed the underlying psychological and sociological implications of World War II. Most surprising of all to me was how accepted, and universal the hatred towards Jews was. In the movie itself, one Nazi officer once described the hatred to not be "good-old-fashioned Jewish hatred" but actually "legal" hatred. It intrigues me how it was so widely accepted and ingrained that there would be branches of Jew hating. Hatred was ingrained into society, and the class hierarchy was also affected. People of Jewish descent were paid less, and the German people justified this in their minds.

More surprising than even this was how easily the Jewish accepted this torture of their race. When forced into ghettos, some Jews proclaimed that they actually liked it. It reveals some of the mind's inner workings. Schindler's list reveals that people can be forced into hatred so long as they feel it is justified. All of us are capable of evil deeds. On the other side, we see that while being abused, the mind goes into a fugue state and will just cope with the mindset of "it could be worse." In a time of immense stress for Germany, the blame fell onto the Jews, and the lack of reaction allowed the German people to justify it in their minds.

4. Further Study

As it became more apparent that Oskar Schindler was a Jewish sympathizer, someone higher up must have noticed. I would like to know more about the reason why such an efficient war machine like Germany, which was hell-bent on eradicating the Jewish, allowed this anomaly to exist for so long. I would like to know further about the reactions of higher officials to Oskar Schindler's "treason." I am also interested in the psychological and cultural mindsets of both the Nazi oppressors and the Jewish copers. It confuses me how so many people can just be agreeable to this much abuse.

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