thority), an honor given only to non-Jews who risked
their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. Poldek
Pfefferberg, aSchindlerjude, wanted the world to
learn of one Gentile who truly practiced the rab-
binic teaching, “If you save one life, it is as if you have
saved the world.” Written with Pfefferberg’s infor-
mation (and extensive research), Keneally’s book
was published in 1982, eight years after the death of
Schindler. American director Steven Spielberg, who
is Jewish, convinced Universal Studies to purchase
the rights toSchindler’s Ark, but it took a decade for
him to feel ready to film the story.
The Story Following the German conquest of Po-
land in September, 1939, Polish Jews from southeast-
ern Poland are relocated to a ghetto in Kraków, to
which Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), a business
failure but talented raconteur, comes. The quintes-
sential schmoozer, Nazi party member Schindler
soon acquires a confiscated enamelware factory and
military contracts for mess kits. Itzhak Stern (Ben
Kingsley), a member of the localJudenrat(Jewish
council), neither likes nor trusts Schindler but views
his offer to run the factory (after raising the neces-
sary capital from the Jewish community) as an op-
portunity to help his people. “Herr Direktor” deals
with the Nazis, while Stern handles administrative
matters and ensures that as many Jews as can be
hired become employees. SS-Untersturmführer(sec-
ond lieutenant) Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes) ar-
rives in Kraków with orders to construct a labor
camp at Puaszów, on the outskirts of Kraków. When
completed, SS troops clear the Kraków ghetto,
shooting those who object and others simply for
sport. Schindler, out riding with his mistress, ob-
serves the bloodbath from a hill overlooking the
ghetto and is profoundly affected.
Surviving Jews are removed to Puaszów, but
Schindler befriends Göth and convinces him to al-
low a sub-camp at his factory for his workers. When
Göth is ordered to dismantle Puaszów and to ship the
inmates to the death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau,
Schindler convinces Göth to allow him to move the
workforce to a factory at Brinnlitz, Schindler’s
hometown. “Schindler’s List” consists of approxi-
mately 1,100 names of those who are to be trans-
ported to the new site. En route, train cars carrying
300 women are accidentally directed to Auschwitz-
Birkenau, but Schindler rushes to the camp and
bribes the camp commander with diamonds to spare
the women. At his factory, Schindler controls the
guards, while spending most of his fortune to pro-
tect his workers. With the Red Army closing in,
Schindler flees but only after theSchindlerjudenpro-
vided him with a letter stating that he was not a crimi-
nal to them. The film concludes with actors from the
film and livingSchindlerjuden placing stones on
Schindler’s grave in Jerusalem.
Reaction to Spielberg’s Film Schindler’s Listfocuses
less on Schindler and more on the Jewish tragedy of
the Holocaust. Except for the opening and the clos-
ing sequences, the film is primarily black and white,
thereby providing the impression of a documentary.
The pivotal event in the film is a lengthy sequence
that portrays the liquidation of the Kraków ghetto.
Spielberg intended for it to be horribly gruesome—
literally so shocking that it would be almost unwatch-
able. At one point, a bewildered little girl in a red748 Schindler’s List The Nineties in America
Steven Spielberg, director ofSchindler’s List, speaks at an event
celebrating the tenth anniversary of the film and the Shoah Foun-
dation in Los Angeles.(Fred Prouser/Reuters/Landov)