280 SCHINDLER’S LIST
fa cil i ty in Olkusz, Poland, 25 miles northeast of Kraków. The World Jewish Con-
gress successfully lobbied against any film production at Auschwitz, so Spielberg
had a partial replica of the camp constructed just outside its entrance. In the midst
of the shoot, Spielberg envisioned the epilogue, where 128 survivors pay their
re spects by placing stones on Schindler’s grave in Jerusalem. The producers had to
scramble to find the Schindlerjuden and fly them in to film the scene.Plot Summary
German Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Kraków, Poland, aiming to profit
from the war. A Nazi Party member, Schindler pays SS officials under the table
and secures a large factory to make enamelware. Schindler hires Itzhak Stern (Ben
Kingsley), a local Jewish official with ties to both the black market and the Jewish
business community, to assist him with his finances. For a time, Schindler keeps
up a cordial friendship with the Nazis and basks in his new wealth, embracing
the title of “Herr Direktor” while Stern manages the day- to- day operations. Schindler
makes the decision to take on Jewish workers because they are cheaper, and Stern
pushes to hire as many people as can be afforded, because if they are seen as essen-
tial to the German war effort, they will survive the awful fate of the death camps.
SS- Untersturmführer Amon Göth (Ralph Fiennes) travels to Kraków to manage
the construction of Płaszów concentration camp. After the camp is built [December
1942], Göth demands that the Kraków Ghetto be destroyed, a brutal pro cess
involving widespread killing [13–14 March 1943]. Schindler witnesses these crimes
against humanity and is appalled. He is specifically moved by a young child wearing
a red coat (Oliwia Dabrowska) whom he notices as the Nazis are rounding people
up and then recognizes later (identifiable by the red coat) on a cart piled high with
corpses. To continue to enjoy SS support for his business, Schindler carefully main-
tains his friendship with Göth— even though he is quite aware that Göth is a
moral monster who constantly degrades his Jewish maid, Helen Hirsch (Embeth
Davidtz), and shoots Jewish camp inmates from the lofty balcony of his house. As
the terrors of the war increase, Schindler abandons his goal of becoming rich for
the more pressing need to save as many lives as he can. To allow his workers as
much protection and safety as pos si ble, Schindler bribes Göth and convinces him
to allow Schindler to create a subcamp. The Germans lose ground in the war, and
Göth is told that all remaining Jews at Płaszów must be transferred to the Aus-
chwitz concentration camp. Schindler, not wanting to turn over his workers to
Auschwitz, proposes instead that he relocate his employees to his new munitions
factory being constructed in Zwittau- Brinnlitz, 210 miles to the west. Göth allows
Schindler to proceed after a sizeable bribe. Schindler works with Stern to com-
pose “Schindler’s List”: a register of approximately 850 people who will travel to
Brinnlitz and be spared the horrors of Auschwitz. When the train transporting the
women and children on Schindler’s List is mistakenly sent to Auschwitz- Birkenau,
the women are let into a cavernous shower room, where they fear for their lives.
For a moment, they do not know if they are going to be showered with water or
asphyxiated by poison gas; fortunately, water is delivered. Schindler offers a bribe
to Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and secures their release. Once
settled in the new factory, Schindler stops SS guards from entering the factory floor