Schindler's List
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World War II is an overall interesting topic. There are thousands of movies created which display the cruel events, battles, and key events of the war. Schindler’s List, a movie by Steven Spielberg, shows the life of a member of the Nazi party who came to Poland to gain a fortune. Oskar Schindler, the protagonist, was born in Zwittau, Austria-Hungary. He had many roles in the war. He spied for the Nazis, and saved countless jews from being killed in Poland. He first arrived in Poland in October 1939 and stayed in the city of Krakow. He created a factory there which produced tools for the Nazi war effort. He first used the Jews from the Ghetto’s because they were cheap and worked harder than any other workers. Over the next couple years he became so attached to the people that he saved several families from singular transports. At the end of the movie, when the Germans are leaving in a hurry back to their country Schindler is thanked by the hundreds of jews, who were still working for him, for saving them from the dangers of extermination. They hand him a golden ring, made from the gold teeth replacements some on the the used, with an engraving in Hebrew, “Whoever saves one life saves the entire world.” Schindler burst into tears seeing this ringing. Then hysteria burst through and he started to cry about how selling his car or luggage could’ve saved one or two more lives.( At the end of the war he was credited with saving over 1,000 jewish lives. He was received the Righteous Among the Nations Award.) This scene made me release multiple things. Firstly, it enforced the idea that not all Germans were for the Nazi efforts. Some germans never joined the Nazi effort, some even fought against it. Some germans joined to Nazi effort for their families but never helped the Nazis. Oskar Schindler was one of them. The scene also made me realise that people can change. Schindler, on the beginning of the movie was a businessman looking only to make a fortune. He used the jews like any other Nazi, for hard labour. Throughout his life his views change and objectives change. He starts to focus on saving Jews, he takes a great risk by doing this because if the Nazis would realise they would execute him for helping the enemy. That scene also changed how I understood the Jew from that time period. At the end of the movie they thanked a Nazi for saving them. They trusted him with their lives to such a level that after the war when Schindler was jobless and had no success in life, they started an organization to help fund money for him. This one little scene changed a large part of my view and knowledge of World War II.
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