By Francis Browne Cold Spring Harbor High School New York, United States
Looking back at the life of a man forever immortalized by Steven Spielberg as a fortuitous hero, it is easy to be judgmental. It is so easy to say that I, too, would have saved the Jews and that I, too, would have been so courageous. However, I did not live in Nazi Germany. I know nothing about governmental oppression or popular racism. Thus, I am in no position to judge the actions taken by Oskar Schindler.
However, if I were in a position to judge Oskar Schindler, I doubt that I would have been as generous as the Council of the Yad Vashem in inviting Oskar Schindler to plant a tree on the Avenue of the Righteous.
In the beginning of the movie, I strongly disliked Oskar Schindler. I disapproved entirely of his carefree lifestyle. To me, he was nothing more than a self-indulgent playboy. Even when he decided to establish his factory which would employ many Jews, thereby preventing, or at least stalling, their execution, he did so only to serve his own purposes and to earn money to fund his deviant lifestyle.
Oskar Schindler was a self-serving and selfish man. However, as the movie progressed and Oskar Schindler became more and more sympathetic towards the plight of the Jews, he began to see the evils which he was allowing to occur. As a result, he took action, discreetly, to save the Jews who were working in his factory. Still, I do not feel the action that he took was anything so extraordinary or that no other human being would have done the same thing. I do not mean to be sanctimonious, but to me, it does not seem that Oskar Schindler was very righteous. It is true that he did risk his life to save a few thousand Jews; however, I feel that he could have done more had he acted sooner.
By definition, a person who is righteous is one who is virtuous. Clearly, Oskar Schindler did not display any virtuosity. He was a selfish man. He cared nothing of the plight of the Jews when he truly had the ability to do the most. In fact, his saving of the Jews from his factory was not even his primary goal in establishing his factory. It was not even a concern. It was only a byproduct of his self-serving "get-rich-quick" scheme.
In judging one's virtuosity, one must not consider the outcome of one's action, but the intentions of one's actions. As a savior of the Jews, Oskar Schindler was a failure. Although this review of his life may seem terribly scathing, I think that Oskar Schindler himself would agree with my point of view.
In one of the very last scenes of the movie, Oskar Schindler is overcome by guilt when he realizes that he could have done more to save people, had he sacrificed some of his luxurious possessions. But instead, he decided to live lavishly. Of course, I am far from being an expert on the life of Oskar Schindler. I know little more of him than what I saw in the movie. For all I know, the movie could be false. Oskar Schindler could have been the most virtuous man in Nazi Germany. However, I doubt that this is true.
In my opinion, when the Holocaust had finished, and Oskar Schindler tried to rebuild his life, he was so overcome with guilt that this guilt was the very cause for his many failures in both his businesses and his marriage. From what I saw of the movie, Schindler's List, Oskar Schindler was nothing more than a self-indulgent man who haphazardly stumbled into his position as the righteous savior of the Jews. Oskar Schindler never intended to be a savior until the very end of the Holocaust. He let many of these workers be sent off to the death camps without concern. As a savior, Oskar Schindler was very effective, but this success certainly does not equate to "righteousness."
By Sienna Moran Cold Spring Harbor High School New York, United States
Watching Schindler's List didn't give me much new information on the Holocaust, but it gave me another perspective from which to view it. I never thought very much about why the Nazis did the things they did. When I saw the movie for the first time about four years ago, I didn't consider this question. However, now I think I have a better idea of their motives, and therefore can see how Schindler was different from them.
Learning about the Holocaust in school, I always had a hard time understanding how so many people could carry out Nazi orders. I was sure that the head military officers and political leaders truly believed that all Jews had to be killed, but I wondered what the soldiers and common people thought; they couldn't all have been evil or brainwashed.
However, now I think that, although the common people did not agree with the orders, they felt they had no choice. If a soldier did not follow orders, or if a civilian was caught hiding a Jew, punishment would consist of death for that person and his or her family. Most people probably reasoned that they did not want to risk the lives of their family, and if caught, the Jews they were trying to save would be killed anyway. Soldiers most likely thought that if they disobeyed an order (for example, to kill a Jew) they would lose their own life, and someone else would be found to carry out the order. Maybe they thought that resisting would endanger the lives of themselves and their family, and it would not accomplish much. It is also very easy to allow someone to die when that person is considered to be a nonhuman, not fit to live (as defined by Nazi propaganda). Although this reasoning may make the Nazis' actions more understandable, it does not make their actions acceptable.
When considering why Schindler did not subscribe to this reasoning, I first thought that he felt he didn't have much to lose. He would be risking the lives of himself and his wife, but could save the lives of thousands of Jews. Perhaps he felt the benefits would far outweigh the risks. Schindler was different from other citizens, in that he had enormous amounts of money and power. He was able to buy and save hundreds of Jews under the pretense of having them work in his factory. Most families might only had the ability to hide a small family in their attic.
I think that Schindler never accepted the idea that the Jews were less than human. He viewed them as people (who could be exploited for his benefit), but as people, nonetheless. When he first met Itzhak Stern, Stern said, "I am obligated to tell you that I am Jewish" (although this was obvious because he was wearing a star). Schindler had no reaction and only said, "Well, I am a German."
The fact that Stern was Jewish was not going to stop Schindler from doing business with him. Also, when the Jewish woman and girl gave Schindler a cake for his birthday, he kissed them as if they were anyone else. Schindler grew attached to his workers because he knew them as people. When Stern forgot his work papers and was about to be sent to a concentration camp, Schindler stopped the train and forced two soldiers to let Stern leave. Schindler could easily have found another accountant, but he had grown close to Stern.
When there was a paperwork mistake with the list of people Schindler had drawn up to be saved, all the women were sent to Auschwitz, instead of to his factory. The Nazi commander offered to replace the women with another group, but Schindler refused; he wanted his original workers.
Schindler was a hero, not because of what he did, but because of what others did not do. Most would expect a person to risk two lives in order to save hundreds; however, when put in the same situation, many would not have the courage to carry out Schindler's plan. Schindler was outraged at human cruelty, but he had the bravery to stand up to it and not be overwhelmed.