Analysis of Schindler’s List as Brilliant Movie about a Horrid Time in History

They believe in the Torah. They are waiting for the Savior to come. They honor the Sabbath. They are Jews, and they were persecuted. Schindler's List is a brilliant movie about a horrid time in history. This movie was about the Holocaust, a period in history when Jews were persecuted by the Germans. It was also about Oscar Schindler, a wealthy man who manufactured war supplies. Schindler was a Jewish man himself. However, the Germans did not execute. They did not execute him because he supplied the war weapons that the Nazis would use to exterminate the Jews, whom they felt were worthless.

In fact, Schindler was popular among the German soldiers because he made them think that he was against the Jewish people. That, however, could not be further from the truth. Schindler aided the Jews in many ways. To have your name on the list that Schindler compiled meant that you left the concentration camps and went to work in the factories where you were treated properly. Once at the factories, you made defective war supplies. For example, one would make a gun where the trigger would not work, therefor when a Nazi went to kill someone with their gun, it would not be able to fire bullets. As one can readily see, Schindler assisted the Jews in a plethora of ways. I think that he helped the Jewish people because he knew that he was one of them. Even though the Nazis were his friends, the only thing that separated him from them was his money.

In the beginning, perhaps Schindler did not do as much as one could have done, but I assume that he realized that being a bystander is just as wrong as participating in the actual killings. I don't think that Oscar Schindler did any of this for recognition, and because of that, I think his motives were only to improve the Jews' conditions. Obviously, Shindler's goal was to save as many Jews as possible, and because of that, he was amazing, and No one can ever possibly begin to explain how someone could come to persecute innocent people. However, the Nazi commandant did just that. And while there are no reasons that even begin to justify those acts, there are some reasons that perhaps lead to them exterminating a community of people.

In my opinion, I suspect it was all based on power. Most people at that time hated the Jews. Therefore whoever destroyed them was a powerful and popular person. Power and popularity are hard to resist. I also feel that jealousy was part of the hatred. The Jewish people were prominent people, so I presume that the Germans were envious of their positions in life. Upon my reflection, I came to the conclusion that the Germans really just wanted someone to blame for their mistakes, and if you were to ask me, there is no dignity nor power in that.

Watching Schindlers List made me reflect greatly. And I kept asking myself, What would I do? Would I help the Jewish people? Would I deny that anything inappropriate was happening? Would I simply turn my back and be a bystander? And the truth is that I really don't know. I could not possibly begin to tell you what I would feel or do if I or one of my family members were in a concentration camp. I can't say that I would help and be brave because that is easy to say and hard to do. All I know is that I would be inconsolable to know that was happening to a family member of mine.

The Holocaust may have happened a while ago, but I think that it is a great example of how hate can posses people to do unthinkable things. It still affects many Jewish people because the people who suffered were their ancestors of theirs. And it affects all people because it reminds us of what happens when racism is active. As for me, it made me realize what a selfish person I can be. At times during the movie, I kept thinking about how this did not affect me because they were not persecuting Catholics, but then I realized next time, it could be the Catholics that were being exterminated.

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