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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Adapted from Thomas Keneally's account of a Czech businessman and Nazi Party member who tried to make his fortune during the Second World War by exploiting cheap Jewish labour but ended up risking his life and becoming bankrupt in order to save more than a thousand Jewish Poles from the Holocaust.
Oskar Schindler arrives in Krakow (Poland) not long after Germany invades the country. The Nazis' relocation of Jewish citizens has already begun, but their ultimate objective is not yet fully understood by most civilians. Schindler acquires a factory for the production of army mess kits but, with no previous experience of running such an enterprise, he gains the support of Itzhak Stern, a functionary in the local Judenrat (Jewish council) who also has contacts with the underground Jewish business community in the ghetto. They lend him the money for the factory in return for a small share of its products, for trade on the black market. At Stern's suggestion, Schindler hires Jewish Polish workers instead of Catholic Polish workers because they cost nothing: Jewish workers receive nothing because their wages go to the Reich.
When Amon Göth arrives in Krakow to initiate construction of Paszów labour camp nearby, the SS clears Krakow Ghetto, sending in hundreds of troops to empty the cramped rooms and shoot anyone who protests or is uncooperative, elderly, or infirm. Schindler watches the massacre from the hills overlooking the area, and is profoundly affected. He is nevertheless careful to befriend Göth and, with Stern's advice, turns to bribing Göth and other key officials in order to continue enjoying the SS's support and protection. The commandant is a vicious and sadistic man who enjoys shooting Jewish people as target practice from the balcony of his villa overlooking the prison camp he commands.
Schindler gets Göth to agree to build a sub-camp at Paszów for Schindler's workers. The initial motive is to keep his workers safe from the depredations of the guards. When an order arrives from Berlin commanding Göth to exhume and destroy all bodies from the Krakow Ghetto massacre, dismantle Paszów, and ship the remaining Jewish prisoners to Auschwitz, Schindler prevails upon Göth to let him keep 'his' workers. With the Final Solution now fully underway in occupied Poland, Schindler and Stern assemble a list of workers that should keep them off the trains to Auschwitz.
Notes
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A Study Guide to Spielberg's Film 'Schindler's List,' by Richard McRoberts and Marcia Pope, was published by Wizard Books (Bendigo, Victoria) in 1996.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Schindler’s List at 30 : A Look Back at Steven Spielberg’s Shattering Masterpiece
2023
single work
column
— Appears in: The Conversation , 14 December 2023; -
The Aesthetics of Conservatism
2013
single work
essay
— Appears in: Overland , Autumn no. 210 2013; (p. 72-79) -
Publishing in the Big Apple : Thomas Keneally's Amazing American Adventure
2013
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Telling Stories : Australian Life and Literature 1935–2012 2013; (p. 385-391) -
A Story for You : Thomas Keneally, Stephen Spielberg
2011
single work
criticism
— Appears in: A Thousand Darknesses : Lies and Truth in Holocaust Fiction 2011; (p. 143-161) -
Myth, Reality and Oskar Schindler
2010
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Quadrant , June vol. 54 no. 6 2010; (p. 30-41)
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Screening the Disaster
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Arena Magazine , April/May no. 10 1994; (p. 48-50)
— Review of Schindler's List 1993 single work film/TV -
Zeugen befragt – Buch über Schindler
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: Münchner Merkur , 2 March 1994;
— Review of Schindler's List 1993 single work film/TV -
Hope
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sydney Review , January-February no. 61 1994; (p. 16-17)
— Review of Schindler's List 1993 single work film/TV -
Gruelling Drama of Human Suffering
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 6 February 1994; (p. 5)
— Review of Schindler's List 1993 single work film/TV -
Hell in Black and White
1994
single work
review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 12-13 February 1994; (p. rev 11)
— Review of Schindler's List 1993 single work film/TV -
'Herr Direktor' : Biography and Autobiography in Schindler's List
2000
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Biography , Winter vol. 23 no. 1 2000; (p. 49-70) -
The List Is Life : Schindler's List as Ethical Construct
2001
single work
criticism
— Appears in: Mapping the Ethical Turn : A Reader in Ethics, Culture, and Literary Theory 2001; (p. 151-164) -
A Decade Since Schindler's List
2004
single work
column
— Appears in: The Australian Jewish News , 26 March vol. 70 no. 26 2004; (p. 19) -
Schindler's List Takes Golden Globe Awards
1994
single work
column
— Appears in: The Courier-Mail , 24 January 1994; (p. 11) -
Schindler's List Puts Spielberg on Top
1994
single work
column
— Appears in: The Advertiser , 24 January 1994; (p. 5)
Awards
- 1994 winner Golden Globe Awards (USA) — Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
- 1994 winner University of Southern California Scripter Award
- 1994 winner Chicago Film Critics Association Awards — Best Screenplay
- 1994 winner Academy Awards — Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium
- 1994 winner Writers Guild of America Award — Best Adapted Screenplay
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cPoland,cEastern Europe, Europe,
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cGermany,cWestern Europe, Europe,
- ca. 1930-1949