Ryan Thomas

Schindlers List(s)
The Holocaust was an atrocity of unparalleled magnitude; any attempt
to portray it in film is certain to be met with controversy and criticism. The fact that
Steven Spielberg was able to win both critical and public acclaim in Schindlers List
is a testament to the movies quality. But its no secret that Schindlers List is a work
of historical fiction rather than a true documentary. As such certain details needed
to be embellished in order to better captivate an audience. Even the eponymous
artifact of the movie, Schindlers list, proves to be a product of Hollywood fantasy.
The most likely explanation for the fabrication is that Spielberg wanted to portray
Schindler as a saint, and make him a paragon of heroism. But its my belief that
separating the man from the myth and viewing him as the flawed human being he
truly was makes him even more of an inspiration to viewers, who are flawed
themselves.
The movie begins with Oskar Schindler, an ambitious businessman of
German descent, arriving in Krakow ready to make his fortune. By bribing SS
officials and the German armed forces, he acquires a factory to produce
enamelware and begins hiring Jewish workers, who cost less to employ than their
German counterparts. At first, Schindler is largely ignorant of the plight of the Jews
and it is his lieutenant, Itzhak Stern, who ensures that his employees are not sent to
concentration camps. But after witnessing Nazi soldiers brutally massacre Jews
while clearing out a ghetto, Schindler has a change of heart and devotes himself to
saving as many of his Jewish employees as he can.
In one of the most memorable scenes of the movie, we see Schindler
with Stern in a darkened room, recording hundreds of names by typewriter in the
legendary list for which the movie takes its name. Schindler seems to recite names
from memory, likely as an attempt by the film to highlight Schindlers dedication to
saving his people.
But according to David M. Crowe, the one of the foremost historians on Oskar
Schindler, this scene is nothing like what really happened. Schindler had almost
nothing to do with the list, Crowe says (Smith). During the time the famous scene
supposedly occurred, Schindler was in jail for bribing an SS Commandant. In truth,
there were nine lists, and five of them were written by a Jewish security police
officer named Marcel Goldberg. The authors of the other four are unknown, but it is
relatively certain that Schindler did not write them.
The most likely origin of the legend is Schindler himself, who wanted to make
himself appear more heroic in order to win reparations for the losses he took in
bribing officials and sustaining his workers with food and medicine throughout the
war. But does the discovery of Schindlers fabrication lessen his stature as a moral
hero? On the contrary, I believe that seeing Schindler as a flawed human being
rather than a whitewashed saint makes him into an even greater hero.

Something not expanded on in the film is that after Schindler moved his
factory to the Czech Republic, he ceased production completely. He distracted Nazi
officers with bribes and alcohol to prevent them from discovering the workers hed
hidden. He falsified documents claiming that each of his workers was crucial to the
war effort and therefore needed to be kept out of the concentration camps. In order
to preserve the Jews religious practices, he devoted funds to those that died to
provide proper Jewish burials. But his most heroic moment came when the Nazis
were on the brink of losing the war and sent soldiers to kill Schindlers workers
despite all his efforts. In the scene that should have been the crowning moment in
Schindlers story, Schindler persuades the soldiers to spare his workers, convincing
them to return home as men, not murderers. Rather than being built around the
mere creation of the list, the film should have centered on the lengths Schindler was
willing to go to in order to keep his people safe. Recording a list of names was the
easy part. The true challenge was seeing the plan through, even when it could have
resulted in Schindler being labeled as a traitor and executed.
But despite the embellishments to Oskar Schindlers role in the creation of
the list, the attention to detail in the recreation of the actual lists which appear on
screen is spectacular.

Here we see a still from the movie in which Schindler holds up his work
and absorbs the magnitude of what hes done. But rather than taking pride in the
number of lives hes saved, feels dread that he could not do more. In a later scene,
Schindler collapses into Sterns arms and laments over his self-perceived failure. But
according to David Crowe, Oskar was proud of all he had done to save Brunnlitzs
Jews and said so in his speech earlier that evening.
By claiming that Schindler didnt take pride in his accomplishments, Spielberg
tries too hard to embellish Schindlers moral virtue. A character who doesnt allow
himself some respite, let alone congratulations, after having saved the lives of 1200
people is not relatable to audiences. The true account of Schindler humanizes him
and makes him seem more like an attainable standard than a two dimensional ideal.

Above we see a page from one of the four original copies of the list left in the
world. Because the original list has not survived the decades since its creation, the

copies are our best reference to gauge the authenticity of the Hollywood versions
resemblance to the actual document. Based on the limited view we have,
Spielbergs crew did an excellent job recreating the original artifact.
The most practical way to judge the accuracy of the Hollywood list is to
look at the columns. While its difficult to make out exactly what the columns are
labeled, by simply comparing the length of each of the headers we can tell that they
are likely the same. Remember that all of the columns are labeled in German. The
first column is labeled Lrd. Nr. Which is an abbreviation for list number. The
second is labelled H. Art U. Nat which are abbreviations for religion and
nationality. If you look at the photo of the real artifact on the right, you can see
the value Ju, Po. which means Jew from Poland. The following rows contain
dittos, presumably to save time and ink.
The next column is labeled H. No. which is an abbreviation for
prisoner number. The factory workers are labeled as prisoners because at the
time the list was created, the factory workers had already been taken by the Nazis.
Schindler was racing against the clock to save as many of his workers as he could
before they were killed. In order to buy time, he told his workers to go along with
the Nazis and dig graves. Bronia Gunz, a woman saved by Schindler, said "We were
digging the graves and thinking: This is the end." Then Schindler returned with the
documents giving them salvation. "One day this beautiful, gorgeous man shows up
with a piece of paper, and he says: Saved, no digging anymore. He was for us like
God (Blow).
The column after prisoner number reads Name und Vorname which
translates to Name and First Name. This column contains the last and first names
of the individuals added to list. The header of the next column reads
Geburtsdatum which is the German word for Date of Birth. The final column
says Beruf. which translates to profession. This column also heavily employs
dittos, likely because there are many common jobs in an enamelware factory.
When looking at the two lists next to one another, its clear that a great
deal of effort was put into recreating the original list. The prop was even created
using a typewriter similar to the ones used in the 1940s. The only visible disparity
between the two is the lack of dittos used in the column for occupation, though this
is only a minor criticism.
But simplifying the story of Oskar Schindler and falsely tying the
construction of the list to him degrades the magnitude of Schindlers actions by
linking them to fabrications. Lets not remember Schindler for recording the names
of 1200 Jews he would save. Schindler brought hope to imprisoned Jews on the brink
of death while simultaneously subverting the Nazi military and sacrificing his entire
wealth in order to keep his workers alive. So what if he felt good about it
afterwards? He deserved to.

Works Cited
Aberly, April N. "Oskar Schindler: The Man and the Hero." Remember.org. N.p., 8
Feb. 1997. Web. 18
Nov. 2015.
Blow, Louis. "Schindlers List." Schindlers List. Blow, 2010. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Smith, Dinitia. "Book Adds Layers of Complexity to the Schindler Legend." Editorial.
New York Times.
Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., 24 Nov. 2004. Web. 14 Nov. 2015.