¶ … Holocaust Studies Main characters in Schindler's List

Oskar Schindler

During the Holocaust, Oskar Schindler who is a womanizer, war profiteer, and a Nazi member becomes the unexpected savior and hero of approximately 1,100 Polish Jews. He is a swindler and a moderately successful businessman who takes advantage of wartime to gain financial success. His business includes buying an enamelware factory previously owned by a Jew and using ingratiation and bribery to get contracts to make war supplies. At first, he was apathetic to the Jews, thinking that their situation was just a result of the war. He is a playboy who habitually cheats on his wife. He joined the Nazi party because he believes that it will help him make more money, and not for any ideological reason. According to the movie Schindler's List (2016), even though Oscar Schindler buys the factory that has been confiscated from Jewish owners and he is given an apartment that is seized from affluent Jews, he does not feel guilty nor is he grateful to the source of his immense fortune.

Itzhak Stern

Itzhak Stern is a bright and determined individual who reveals Schindler's moral side. His attitude towards Schindler reflects the main character's change throughout the story. From the very beginning, he can see Schindler's greed for money and callousness. He hates Schindler for being so, but he controlled his anger for him especially when he was originally offered to run the enamelware factory and get more Jewish investors. Itzhak shows his disdain for him by refusing to have a drink with him. However, when Schindler becomes active in saving the Schindlerjuden, he slowly sees the good in his employer and his attitude towards him becomes favorable. Eventually, when he learns of the closing of the Plaszow labor camp and realizes that Stern will definitely be put to death, convinced, finally has a drink with Schindler and become amiable to each other. According to Schindler's List (2016), Stern finally showed his respect for Schindler and Schindler accepted Stern's fate by having this drink.

Just like Schindler, Stern is also an opportunist and he is the mastermind behind the rescue of the Schindlerjuden. According to...

He finds an authorized outlet for his cruelty in the Nazi military and represents the Third Reich's mindless evil and its "final solution." For him, Jews are pests who do not deserve basic human rights. Killing is but natural to him as he kills without being provoked and without hesitation. He is never good unlike Schindler. In spite of his consistent basic nature, he cannot be called a one-dimensional character as he is a conflicted and complicated person, too. He has a strong desire for his Jewish maid Helen Hirsch, which actor Ralph Fiennes skillfully demonstrated in the movie.
Helen Hirsch

Helen Hirsch is Amon Goeth's Jewish maid and object of his desire and aversion. She is a strong woman who lives a tortured life by being forced to work for Goeth whom she detests. Goeth inflicts so much physical violence on her that she begins to feel hopeless, accepting the fatality. According to Schindler's List (2016), she represents the victims of psychological abuse during the Nazi regime.

Accuracies

• On their way to work, Jews have been detained by SS squads to clear snow. Schindler went to SS headquarters in Pomorska to complain to his friend Toffel about the delay that it was causing him in his factory as his workers were absent. Sometimes, during the shoveling of the snow, Jews were shot or got deported in trucks. According to Keneally (1993), the SS man can choose to shoot people, especially Jews wantonly.

• Both the book and the movie showed almost exactly the same way how the Jews of Kazimierz moved. According to Keneally (1993), the movie depicted how the families packed their belongings and pushed barrows piled with all their stuff as they walk toward the ghetto. According to SLE, Accuracies (2013), just like what actually happened in reality, the movie also showed how their houses were given to high ranked SS officials.

• The movie also showed accurately how Jewish families oftentimes unknowingly shared rooms with other families or other people. According to SLE, Accuracies (2013), a woman would walk into a room and say to her husband, "it's not that bad," and his husband would answer resignedly, "how can it possibly be worse" as another family enters the small room.

• The establishment of the Judenrat's own police force called the Ordnungdienst (OD) was also shown in the movie. They are described as good to their fellow Jews. According to SLE, Accuracies (2013), as said in the left-outs, these OD members, as well as their families, were unfortunately, shot after the transition to Plaszow from the ghetto.

Inaccuracies

• Based on the movie, Schindler and Pfeffenberg first met in a church while the priest was preaching. On the other hand, according to Keneally (1993), the book said that Schindler visited Pfeffenberg…