Schindler\'s List -- Historical Accuracy

Schindler's List -- Historical Accuracy

Numerous events in time have gone over the stage where they would be mentioned in historical documents, and, as a result, writers and film directors have decided to make movies and books related to them. In order for a certain motion picture or book to impress their audiences, the events in history that they present need to be accurate. Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List has been inspired from the real-life events of Oskar Schindler.

The Holocaust has provided script materials for a great number of movies that have been done subsequent to the event. There are virtually no words to describe best the horrors that the Jewish people have been subjected to during the Second World War. In times when there seemed that there was nothing to stand in front of the Nazi war machine, there were a few people that risked their lives in order to help others. Oskar Schindler has turned in his lifelong fortune in order to make it possible for hundreds of people to escape execution.

Instead of going at creating a perfect image for Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) in his film, Steven Spielberg presented facts exactly as they had been. Spielberg does not try to hide the facts that Schindler had been a man that enjoyed life and wanted to make the most of it. Nor did he hide Schindler's lust for beautiful women and money. The main character from Schindler's List is presented exactly as the true Oskar Schindler had been.

Being an opportunist, Schindler immediately seized the chance of joining the ranks of the Germans when they've entered Czechoslovakia in 1939. Spielberg presented Schindler as a man having much interest in having influent people as contacts. Indeed, the real Schindler made influent friends both in the Nazi camp, and in the Jewish one from the ghetto in Krakow.

In real-life, Oskar Schindler left his hometown for Krakow with the intention of getting rich in there, as he had been destroyed by the fact that his family's business had been bankrupt. The movie follows the exact steps as Liam Neeson brings his character to life with the wonderful performance. Schindler is shown as he gathers the only money that he has left and leaves to Krakow, hoping to get rich because of the war.

At the time that the real Schindler arrived in Krakow, the Jewish families had just been evacuated. Being an influent person working for the Nazi, Schindler had received an apartment which formerly belonged to a Jewish family. Both in the movie, and in reality, Oskar Schindler had not been initially interested in the fate of the Jewish people.

In reality, Oskar Schindler had been reported to work for the Nazi intelligence, to which he presumably provided important material. (oskarschindler.com) The movie does not display Schindler as having had any important connection to the Nazis, nor does it give any information regarding to the spy mission which he conducted.

The movie follows the story exactly as it is as Schindler begins to expand his sphere of influence in Krakow and manages to take control of enamel factory formerly owned by a Jewish businessman. The Deutsch Emailwaren Fabrik, as it had been called both in the movie and in reality, had required the Czechoslovak businessman to give substantial bribes to the German leaders from the Polish capital. As he had been an entrepreneur, Schindler preferred to have the cheap labor working for him under the form of Jewish people rather than having Poles. (oskarschindler.com)

As the war evolved, and the situation in Krakow became critical, Schindler felt that his all the money that he made did not make him feel happy. Instead, it made him discover a more humane image of himself, as he remained shocked after seeing the horrors occurring in the ghetto. All in all, after having seen the movie, the audience mainly considers that Oskar Schindler had been a man worth praising. However, the fact that Spielberg also lets the audience know that Schindler had led a controversial life does not make the movie accurate.

Subsequent to the movie, numerous accounts relating to Oskar Schindler's life have emerged, and important discoveries have been made. Apparently, the very title of the movie is not accurate, as it seems that there have actually been nine lists, with all of them being written by other people than Itzhak Stern or Oskar Schindler. According to David M. Crowe, a Holocaust historian, Schindler had been in jail at the time that the lists have been written. (Dinitia Smith)

In the movie, Oskar Schindler is presented as he dictates the names of the Jewish people that he wants from Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes) to Itzhak Stern, his accountant. As Crowe states, Itzhak Stern had no connection with Schindler at the time that the list had been written. (Smith)

After the war, in times when most people having had relations to the Nazis had been trialed, Schindler appeared out of nowhere as a knight in shining armor. According to Crowe, he started to spread rumors about him and about how he saved over one thousand Jewish people. The Jewish people present on the nine lists continued the story and lifted Schindler to the rank of savior, with the whole world learning about Schindler and his act of bravery. (Smith)

The legend of Schindler is being faltered by the facts presented by Crowe, and the movie now seems to appear less impressive. In spite of generally regarding Oskar Schindler as being a man that deserves to be honored, the Jewish community did not always considered him as a notable man in Jewish history. At the end of the movie, the audience is being presented with the information that Schindler had been named a "righteous gentile" in 1958 by the Jewish as a result of his performance. However, matters become ambiguous as we learn that the Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Memorial), had not given Schindler the respective title until the moment when the Jewish officials heard about the film and about the fact that Schindler's widow was coming to Jerusalem to participate in the movie. (Smith)

The reason for which the Jewish people waited almost four decades before giving Schindler the title had been the fact that they feared that the rumors referring to Schindler having stolen from the Jews and having ordered several Jewish people to be beaten. (Smith) In the film, Schindler does not display any deviant behavior towards the Jews. The only connection that the movie has to Schindler having behaved immorally towards the Jewish people had been at the moment when he accepted to live in a house which belonged to them.

As Crowe further brings light to the subject, we learn that Schindler had actually had a major role in the occupation of Czechoslovakia and of Poland by the Germans. Apparently, there have even been allegations made by the Czechoslovak government that Schindler had been a war criminal. (Smith)

Oskar Schindler was not a bad man, but he was not good either, as he mainly wanted to gain profits from a horrible situation. The fact that he played a major role in saving the people that he did certainly washed away most of his previous sins. At the end of the movie Spielberg gives the viewers an image of a ravished man feeling sorry because of the fact that he hadn't make additional efforts in order to save another man. However, according to Greg Raven from the Institute of Historical Review, the saving of the Jewish people did not leave Schindler broke, as he supposedly left with large amounts of money. (Raven) Also, the breakdown experienced by Schindler during his final speech might also be fiction, as reports of Schindler showed that he rarely expressed his feeling in such a way.