Schindlers Ark

A detailed Summary of Schindlers Ark

Task - A study of the character of Oskar Schindler to show that despite major obstacles and difficulties in his quest for justice for the Jews, he finally achieved his goal, at great personal cost to his own life.

The story of Oskar Schindler and his legacy began on April 28th 1908 in the Austrian city of Zwittau. In 1918, when Oskar was 10, his family moved to the Czechoslovak republic of Masaryk and Benei. He immediately became best friend with his neighbours children, who were Jews and their father was the local rabbi. His family was also one of the richest in the area and Oskar was often showered in items of luxury. In 1935 the Schindler family business was failing and Oskar's father Herr Hans Schindler left his wife and Oskar's mother Frau Louisa Schindler, and moved to his own apartment. Oskar detested this. He would go into cafes and make speeches on his father's treachery to his mother, who in Oskar's eyes did not deserve this treatment, as she was a good woman who had done nothing wrong. 1939, The beginning of World War 2, and Oskar joins the Nazi Party. The opportunities that the war brings are what may have attracted Oskar to join the Nazi party. Oskar Schindler quickly got on good terms with the local Gestapo chief

Amon Goeth, who passed his mornings by using his high-powered, scoped rifle to shoot at children playing in the camp, often would use it as an incentive for them to work harder. For example, some young men hauling coal were moving too slow for his liking. He shot one of them with his sniper rifle so that the rest would work more quickly. Oskar Schindler outwitted Hauptsturmfuhrer Amon Goeth. When Schindler requested that those Jews who continued to work in his factory be moved into their own sub-camp near the plant "to save time in getting to the job," Goeth complied. From then on, Schindler found that he could have food and medicine smuggled into the barracks with less danger. The guards, of course, were bribed, and Goeth never was to discover it, though Oskar Schindler was arrested twice. At the point when his ambitions have been realized and he could walk away from the war a rich man while "his Jews" die in Plaszow and Auschwitz, Oscar Schindler desperately spends every penny he has bribing and paying off Amon Goeth and other Nazi officials to protect and save his Jews. In a symbolic reversal of his earlier purpose in life, he spends all the money he made by exploiting the labour of Jews in buying the lives of Jews; whatever is not spent in bribing Goeth and other Nazi officials is subsequently spent in feeding and protecting his Jews.

This backs up my point that Schindler deep down is a kind man as he promises to stop Helen Hirsch's sister from being taken away to a concentration camp, most likely for extermination. This made me change my whole outlook on Schindler up to this points, as from before this incident he seemed just like any other Nazi Officer from during the war, a cruel and power mad man.

The next part of Oskar's character I am going to talk about is his womanizing side. In early 1928, at a party in Zwittau, Oskar met a girl. She was a farmer's girl, who was in Zwittau visiting some friends. Her name was Emilie. On March 6, 1928, Emilie and Oskar married, and the wedding celebration took place in an inn on the outskirts of Zwittau. But in 1936, after 8 years he left Emile, but not for ever. He moved to Cracow so he could be closer to where he worked at his Enamel Factory, 5km away from Cracow at Plaszow Concentration camp. However instead of staying faithful, he went to many parties with other high-ranking Nazi officers. At these parties amongst other things, there would be female prisoners, brought from local concentration camps, who would act as sex slaves for the men for the night. Goeth, a violet man, often let out his anger

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Approximate Word count = 1732
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History