Part I: Oskar Schindler’s Changing Identity: 1. Oskar Schindler’s identity drastically changes from the beginning to the end of the movie. At first, Schindler was a greedy, selfish, and rich man, who was a member of the Nazi party and profited from the war. He also was a womanizer who constantly cheated on his wife. He only cared about making money and he only hired Jewish workers because they were cheaper. He saved his workers initially because he did not want to pay to train other workers and protected them since he believed that their welfare impacted his business. He saw Jewish people differently than other Germans, he saw them as workers, and he inadvertently developed a reputation for kindness. He did not do this at first to be a …show more content…
He witnessed the terrible treatment the Jews faced, yet did nothing to stop it. He was most clearly a bystander when he watched the liquidation of the ghettos on top of a hill. However, that was a moment that changed Schindler after seeing the girl in the red coat and realizing that he had to save the people. He slowly became an upstander in the labor camp as he saved many people by bringing them to his factory where they were safer. He treated his workers well and began to see them as people and care about them. He got his own sub-camp in order to protect them more and spent his entire fortune to save as many people as he could. His workers viewed him as a hero and he was most visibly an upstander when he led his workers to safety to his factory away from the labor camp. At his own factory, he banned the guards from harming any Jews and it was a safe haven for them. He risked everything to save the woman and children who were accidentally redirected to Auschwitz. He bribed and cheated at first to get what he wanted, but then he did it to save as many Jews as possible. An upstander is someone who does something to stop and prevent acts of injustice when witnessing it. This his was his transformation from bystander and perpetrator, to upstander and saving his Schindler Jews. Part II: Bystanders, Perpetrators, Upstanders, Victims 3. In the movie
Oskar Schindler grew up in a prosperous Catholic family with all the privileges money could buy. He grew up to be a German industrialist, spy, and a member of the Nazi Party, who outwitted Hitler and the Nazis to save more Jews than any other from the deathly events of World War॥. With the help of his wife, Emilie Schindler, Oskar Schindler saved the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his ammunition and enamelware factories, spending millions bribing the SS, and eventually risking his life to rescue the Schindler-Jews (“The Oscar Schindler Story”)
To think that this self centred man would become known for a shining moment of salvation for so many is almost beyond belief. Oskar Schindler is not a humanitarian or a force for ?good? in the typical sense. He is depicted within the film as a man that simply found himself in a unique position and rose to the occasion. Evil on the other hand, is epitomised throughout the film by the actions of those involved in the Nazi regime, in particular Amon Goeth who was in charge of the forced labour camp at Plaszow.
He made sure that they were able to keep their lives. He did this by preventing those people from being shipped to concentration camps or killed on sight. Proof that Schindler took care of his workers is that after the war ended, some of his “Schindlerjuden” took care of him and “honored him” (JewishVirtualLibrary.org). If Schindler had shown them cruelty why would some of them make sure that he was taken care of? These people did not care that he had been a drunk, or that he dishonored his marriage vows. All they saw was a man who had taken a risk to save their lives. To many, there was no way they could repay him for his actions. That is why they honored him as they did and took care of him. They do not know why Schindler decided to save them, but all that matters is that he did.
Oskar Schindler was a true hero during World War II. He risked life and limb for people he did not even meet before. He saved his accountant Itzhak Stern from death and Itzhak helped change his views and help save the Jews. Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jews from subsequently being sent to the gas chambers and he gave them food and work. Not a single S.S. officer got suspicious because they knew that the Jews would be working for a German cause, but on the contrary, they did not know that they were being treated affectionately and compassionately. Overall we believe that Oskar Schindler was a source of optimism and expectancy for the Jewish people. Oskar Schindler was the Moses of
Throughout the movie Schindler’s List, Oskar Schindler, a German, ends up saving a group of Jewish instead of trying to kill them. There is a large change in how the character feels, from the beginning of the movie not really caring about the Jewish people, to the end of the movie where he ends up saving a large group of Jewish people from extermination. We can see this character change throughout the movie, but what is the real reason he saved the Jewish people? Schindler saved the group of Jewish people because his character slowly changed to one that cared about the lives of all people, to the point where he rescued a group of Jewish people because it was the right thing to do.
In the beginning of the film, Oskar Schindler is a man who is intrigued by anyway to make money. In the past, he has mostly been a failed businessman who is extremely persistent and will stop at nothing to become a profiteer. Schindler however, has an idea, unlike any idea he has ever had in the past. In the beginning of the film, he bribes and communicates with many German officials just as the war is beginning so he can gain access to jews and their free labor. He is an exceptionally greedy man who will abuse his power and social status to make money even if it’s through the blood, sweat, and tears of other individuals. At the beginning of the film, Schindler proclaims, “In every business I tried, I can see now, it wasn't me that failed. Something was missing.” He expresses that the reason for his success in his newly found business can be credited to war. This quote clearly indicates his extreme desire for wealth. However, over time he begins to adjust and modify his behaviors as a result of his friendship with a Jewish man named Itzhak Stern, who also is a manager of his business. As time goes on he begins to protect his workers and save them from concentration camps proclaiming that they are “essential workers” for the war effort. Schindler has now begun to understand that jews
The reason Schindler was capable of getting the Jews was because he was rich, but the bad part about that was he would lose money. Schindler changed history because he cared for the Jews more than his money. He was a hero by finding a way to keep them hydrated like when the Jews were in the train, he hosed them down so they could have water in their system, that is a man with a heart. Schindler made a difference in history by saving many jews as he
Oskar Schindler was a hero in World War II. He endured many conflicts. The main battle he faced was during World War II. During World War II, Oskar Schindler was a German businessman who saved Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia from death by employing them in his factory (“Oskar Schindler” 362).
Schindler was a rescuer of the jews because he was not a fan of how they were treated. When asked why he saved them he replied by saying “I knew the people who worked for me. When you know people, you have to behave towards them like human beings.” Unlike the nazis and Hitler, Oscar Schindler saw jews as normal human beings and did not use them and make them do manual labor just to survive and not be killed. He did make them work just so the nazis did not come in and just kill all of them or take them back to a concentration camp and abuse them. The condition Oscar Schindler had was when he had the jews working for him that he didn’t want them to make any of the bullets functional and allow them to be fired and kill
Oskar Schindler is considered an amazing hero of the Holocaust and is noteworthy because he rescued a lot of Jews, changed his Nazi beliefs, and was recognized by the state of Israel as one of the “Righteous Among the Nation.” He was a German industrialist who had such a huge impact on modern society, he protected the jews from the wrath of the Nazi Party and preserved generation of Jewish families.
Oskar Schindler saved thousands of Jewish people from the horrible tragedy that was the Holocaust. Some would say, at one point in Schindler 's life, he was an aryan man with no financial problems whatsoever. Schindler was truly a brave man that sacrificed his life for many others. Schindler simply saved others out of the goodness from his heart. “Oskar Schindler (1908-1974) was born on April 28, 1908, in Svitavy (Zwittau), Moravia, at that time a province of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy” (Holocaust Encyclopedia). “Schindler grew up with all the privileges money could buy. He was born Catholic…” (Jewish Virtual Library). “Oscar’s parents Johann Schindler and Francisca nee Luser were both Germans from Silesia, who had settled in Svitavy, where he worked in insurance, and the selling of electrical generators for domestic purposes, and dealing with farm machinery” (Holocaust Education & Archive Research Team). “A sister Elfriede was born in 1915 - Oskar was very close to her, as was his relationship with his mother. After leaving full time education, Schindler worked in the family business in Svitavy, after a short break he commuted to Brno, where he worked for an electrical company called Moravska Elektotechnica (M.E.A.S.), as a representative.” “After attending a series of trade schools in Brno and marrying Emilie Pelzl in 1928, Schindler held a variety of jobs, including working in his father 's farm machinery business in Svitavy, opening a driving school in Sumperk, and
Oskar Schindler faced many conflicts in his life. The main conflict he faced was overcoming the Nazis and saving over one thousand Jewish People. Schindler, with out a job at the time, joined the Nazi Party and followed on the heels of the SS when the Germans invaded Poland. This is when Schindler took over two previously Jewish owned companies that dealt with the manufacture and sales of enamel kitchenware products and opened up his own enamel shop right outside of Krakow near the Jewish ghetto. There, he employed mostly Jewish workers, which saved them from being deported to labor camps. Though twice the Gestapo arrested him, he got released because of his many connections and with many bribes. Most
Watching Schindler's list I decided to focus on Oskar Schindler. Throughout the movie Schindler personal emotions change on the war. In the beginning we see that it was a good thing for business that nothing else mattered as long as he made money. When Jews would come up he wouldn't care about them because he knew he could manipulate them and earn more money since they needed him. Schindler didn't really care for the Jews and what would happen to them. We see that Schindler only concern is that his business profits in the war. His concern for going to parties were to make connection that would better his money earning business. Money was his only concern which is why he went out seeking a jew. Since having a jew made it so they could be payed less than a normal person and they would be to scared to not do work. If he got a Jew it would earn him more money than hiring a German accountant. After getting an accountant he goes and seek workers for his factory. The workers are Jews since they don't need to be payed to be working. We later learn that his wife influences him with making business and wanting to succeed. He came from a place where he had nothing and is just beginning to make it. Hes making so much money he doesn't know what to do and he thanks the war for that. With his business doing so well he starts to care about his workers. He cares about them because he needs them to continue making the money.He starts really caring about his accountant Stern he makes sure he
[War] brings out the worst in people. Never the good, always the bad. Even in the midst the devastation of a national genocide, where one race turned against another in hate, good people existed and worked to counteract the hate through love and compassion. Oskar Schindler was one of these people. World War II provided him the means to become a very wealthy and powerful man, yet he did not exploit the Jews like many other businessmen during his time. He used his money and power to save thousands. Much can be learned from what happened during the holocaust and what Schindler did to save thousands of Jews.
Schindler risked his life to save the Jews, as his growing compassion towards the Jews took over him; he is a human being, who is sensitive to the suffering of others, which is why witnessing such horror changed his character significantly. Drinking and partying were ideals of Schindler's lifestyle, yet he left all of it to help people he had no personal connection towards; he spent all his money in efforts to save the Jews, and still wanted to save more. In the last scene of the movie, Schindler is distraught and heartbroken, as he looks towards his car stating, “This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.”; even in his final moments with the Jews, he believes he could have saved more, even though, he had saved 1100 single handedly. Therefore, his motive was humanity, as no one can idly stand by as individuals are stripped of their lives and slaughtered like animals; you are no less of an animal if you can kill and torture without feeling. Witnessing the unprecedented suffering and unwarranted horrors of