Schindler's List

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Schindler's List is a 1993 film about German entrepreneur Oskar Schindler, who was instrumental in saving the lives of over one thousand Polish Jews during the Holocaust. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1993.

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Written by Steven Zaillian, based on the novel "Schindler's Ark" by Thomas Keneally.
Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire. (taglines)

Oskar Schindler[edit]

  • [To Pfefferberg] Boxed teas are good, coffee, pâté, um, kiełbasa sausage, cheeses, beluga caviar. And of course, who could live without German cigarettes, as many as you can find. And some more fresh fruit – the real rarities: oranges, lemons, pineapples. I need several boxes of Cuban cigars, the best. And dark unsweetened chocolate, not in the shape of lady fingers, the chunk chocolate, big as my hand. You sample it at wine tastings. We're going to need lots of cognac, the best – Hennessy. Dom Pérignon champagne. Get L'Espadon sardines. And, oh, try to find nylon stockings.
  • It is my distinct pleasure to announce the fully operational status of Deutsche Email Fabrik – manufacturers of superior enamelware crockery, expressly designed and crafted for military use, utilizing only the most modern equipment. DEF's staff of highly skilled and experienced artisans and journeymen deliver a product of unparalleled quality, enabling me to proffer with absolute confidence and pride, a full line of field and kitchen ware unsurpassable in all respects by my competitors. See attached list and available colors. Anticipating the enclosed bids will meet with your approval, and looking forward to a long and mutually prosperous association, I extend to you, in advance, my sincerest gratitude and very best regards. Oskar Schindler.
  • [To Gestapo men, as they are arresting him] I'm not saying you'll regret it, but you might. You should be aware of that.
  • I violated the Race and Resettlement Act. Though I doubt anyone can point out the actual provision to me. I kissed a Jewish girl.
  • The train with the women has already left Płaszów and will be arriving here very shortly. I know you've had a long journey, but it's only a short walk further to the factory where hot soup and bread is waiting for you. Welcome to Brinnlitz.
  • What are you doing? These are mine. These are my workers. They should be on my train. They're skilled munitions workers. They're essential. Essential girls. Their fingers polish the insides of shell metal casings. How else am I to polish the inside of a 45 millimeter shell casing? You tell me. You tell me!
  • [To Brinnlitz guards] Under Department W provisions, it is unlawful to kill a worker without just cause. Under the Businesses Compensation Fund, I am entitled to file damage claims for such deaths. If you shoot without thinking, you go to prison, I get paid. That's how it works. So, there will be no summary executions here. There will be no interference of any kind with production. In hopes of ensuring that, guards will no longer be allowed on the factory floor without my authorization. [To the Commanding Officer, Josef Liepold] For your cooperation, you have my gratitude.
  • [To his wife, Emilie] No doorman or Maître D' will ever mistake you again. I promise.
  • The unconditional surrender of Germany has just been announced. At midnight tonight, the war is over. Tomorrow you'll begin the process of looking for survivors of your families. In most cases … you won't find them. After six long years of murder, victims are being mourned throughout the world. We've survived. Many of you have come up to me and thanked me. Thank yourselves. Thank your fearless Stern, and others among you who worried about you and faced death at every moment. I am a member of the Nazi Party. I'm a munitions manufacturer. I'm a profiteer of slave labor. I am … a criminal. At midnight, you'll be free and I'll be hunted. I shall remain with you until five minutes after midnight, after which time – and I hope you'll forgive me – I have to flee. [To the factory's SS guards] I know you have received orders from our commandant, which he has received from his superiors, to dispose of the population of this camp. Now would be the time to do it. Here they are; they're all here. This is your opportunity. … Or, you could leave, and return to your families as men instead of murderers. [The guards gradually exit; he addresses the workers again] In memory of the countless victims among your people, I ask us to observe three minutes of silence.

Amon Goeth[edit]

  • Today is history. Today will be remembered. Years from now the young will ask with wonder about this day. Today is history and you are part of it. Six hundred years ago when elsewhere they were footing the blame for the Black Death, Kazimierz the Great – so called – told the Jews they could come to Krakow. They came. They trundled their belongings into the city. They settled. They took hold. They prospered in business, science, education, the arts. They came with nothing. Nothing. And they flourished. For six centuries there has been a Jewish Krakow. Think about that. By this evening, those six centuries are a rumor. They never happened. Today is history.
  • [To Stern] Goldberg and Chilowicz make sure I see my cut from the factory owners in this camp, leaving you to take care of my main account – the Schindler account. He wants his independence. I gave it to him. But independence costs money. This you understand? [Stern nods] Look at me. Don't forget who you are working for now.
  • [To Helen] I came to tell you that you really are a wonderful cook and a well-trained servant. I mean it. If you need a reference after the war, I'd be happy to give you one. It's kind of lonely down here, it seems, with everyone upstairs having such a good time. Does it? You can answer. "What was the right answer?" That's – that's what you're thinking. "What does he want to hear?" The truth, Helen, is always the right answer. Yes, you're right. Sometimes we're both lonely. Yes, I mean, I would like, so much, to reach out and touch you in your loneliness. What would that be like, I wonder? I mean, what would be wrong with that? I realize that you're not a person in the strictest sense of the word. Maybe you're right about that too. You know, maybe what's wrong isn't – it's not us – it's this. I mean, when they compare you to vermin and to rodents and to lice, I just, uh … you make a good point, a very good point. [He strokes her hair] Is this the face of a rat? Are these the eyes of a rat? "Hath not a Jew eyes?" I feel for you, Helen. [He decides not to kiss her] No, I don't think so. You're a Jewish bitch. You nearly talked me into it, didn't you? [He beats her]
  • [Defending Schindler] He likes women. He likes good-looking women. He sees a beautiful woman – he doesn't think. He has so many women. They love him, yeah, they love him. I mean, he's married, yeah, but … all right, she was Jewish, he shouldn't have done it, but you didn't see this girl. I saw this girl. This girl was, wuff, very good-looking. They cast a spell on you, you know, the Jews. When you work closely with them like I do, you see this. They have this power, it's like a virus. Some of my men are infected with this virus. They should be pitied, not punished. They should receive treatment, because this is as real as typhus. I see this all the time. It's a matter of money, hm?
  • [Supervising the incineration of bodies buried near Płaszów] Can you believe this? As if I don't have enough to do, they come up with this? I have to find every rag buried up here and burn it. The party's over, Oskar. They're closing us down, sending everybody to Auschwitz … as soon as I can arrange the shipments, maybe 30, 40 days. That ought to be fun.
  • [Before being hanged] Heil Hitler. [The chair underneath is kicked out, and he is hanged to death]

Itzhak Stern[edit]

  • Herr Direktor, don't let the things fall apart. I worked too hard.
  • [To Schindler, presenting a ring] It's Hebrew from the Talmud. It says, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

Marcel Goldberg[edit]

  • It's illegal to buy or sell anything on the street. We don't do that. We're here to pray.
  • I'm a policeman now, could you believe it? That's what's hard to believe … it's a good racket, Poldek. It's the only racket here. Look, maybe I could put in a good word for you with my superiors … come on, they're not as bad as everyone says. Well, they're worse than everyone says, but it's a lot of money, a lot of money.

Others[edit]

  • SS officer: This storm is different. This is not the Romans. This storm is the SS.
  • Jewish Woman: [to the Judenrat] They come into our house and tell us we don't live there anymore. It now belongs to a certain SS officer … aren't you supposed to be able to help?
  • Mr. Lowenstein: The SS beat me up. They would have killed me, but I'm essential to the war effort, thanks to you. … I work hard for you. … I'll continue to work hard for you. … God bless you, sir. … You're a good man. … [to Stern] He saved my life. … God bless him. … [to Schindler] God bless you.
  • Clerk: [to Schindler, about Stern] I'm sorry. You can't have him. He's on the list. If he were an essential worker, he would not be on the list … it makes no difference to us, you understand. This one, that one. It's the inconvenience to the list. It's the paperwork.
  • SS Officer: [to Schindler, about relocating to Płaszów] Since your labor is housed onsite, it's available to you at all times. You can work them all night if you want. Your factory policies, whatever they've been in the past, they'll continue to be, they'll be respected.
  • Oberführer Scherner: [to Schindler] We give you Jewish girls at five marks a day, Oskar. You should kiss us, not them. God forbid you ever get a real taste for Jewish skirt – there's no future in it. No future. They don't have a future. And that's not just good old-fashioned Jew-hating talk. It's policy now.
  • Winston Churchill (on radio): Yesterday morning, at 2:41 AM, at General Eisenhower's headquarters, General Jodl signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea, and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command. The German war is therefore at an end. But let us not forget for a moment …
  • Rabbi Lewartow: [to Schindler] We've written a letter trying to explain things in case you are captured. Every worker has signed it.
  • End titles: Amon Goeth was arrested while a patient in a sanatorium at Bad Tolz. He was hanged in Krakow for crimes against humanity. … Oskar Schindler failed at his marriage and several businesses after the war. … in 1958, he was declared a righteous person by the council of the Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and invited to plant a tree in the Avenue of the Righteous. It grows there still. … The Schindler Jews today. … There are fewer than four thousand Jews left alive in Poland today. There are more than six thousand descendants of the Schindler Jews. … In memory of the more than six million Jews murdered.

Dialogue[edit]

Schindler: There's a company you did the books for on Lipowa Street, made what – pots and pans?
Stern: By law, I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew.
Schindler: Well, I'm a German, so there we are. A good company, you think?
Stern: Modestly successful.
Schindler: I know nothing about enamelware, do you?
Stern: I was just the accountant.
Schindler: Simple engineering, though, wouldn't you think? Change the machines around, whatever you do, you could make other things, couldn't you? Field kits, mess kits, army contracts. Once the war ends, forget it, but for now it's great. You could make a fortune, don't you think?
Stern: I think most people right now have other priorities.
Schindler: Like what?
Stern: I'm sure you'll do just fine once you get the contracts. In fact, the worse things get, the better you will do.
Schindler: Oh, I can get the signatures I need – that's the easy part. Finding the money to buy the company, that's hard.
Stern: You don't have any money?
Schindler: Not that kind of money. You know anybody? Jews, yeah. Investors. You must have contacts in the Jewish business community working here.
Stern: What "community"? Jews can no longer own businesses. That's why this one's in receivership.
Schindler: Ah, but they wouldn't own it. I'd own it. I'd pay them back in product. Pots and pans.
Stern: Pots and pans.
Schindler: Something they can use. Something they can feel in their hands. They can trade it on the black market, do whatever they want. Everybody's happy. If you want, you could run the company for me.
Stern: Let me understand. They'd put up all the money. I'd do all the work. But what, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?
Schindler: I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache. That's what I'm good at, not the work, not the work – the presentation.
Stern: I'm not sure I know anybody who'd be interested in this.
Schindler: Well, they should be, Itzhak Stern. Tell them they should be.

Pfefferberg: Do you have any idea how much a shirt like this costs?
Schindler: Nice things cost money.
Pfefferberg: How many?
Schindler: I'm going to need some other things too as things come up …
Pfefferberg: This won't be a problem.
Schindler: … from time to time.

Schindler: For each thousand you invest, I will repay you with two hundred kilos of enamelware a month, to begin in July and to continue for one year – after which time we're even. That's it. It's very simple.
Investor: Not good enough …
Schindler: Not good enough? Look where you're living. Look where you've been put. "Not good enough." A couple of months ago, you'd be right. Not anymore.
Investor: Money's still money.
Schindler: No, it is not. That's why we're here. Trade goods, that's the only currency that'll be worth anything in the ghetto. Things have changed, my friend. Did I call this meeting? You told Mr. Stern you wanted to speak to me. I'm here. I've made you a fair offer.
Investor: Fair would be a percentage of the company.
Schindler: [laughs] Forget the whole thing. Get out.
Investor: How do we know that you will do what you say?
Schindler: Because I said I would. Do you want a contract? To be upheld by what court? I said what I'll do, that's our contract.

Stern: The standard SS rate for Jewish skilled labor is seven marks a day, five for unskilled and women. This is what you pay the Reich Economic Office, the Jews themselves receive nothing. Poles you pay wages. Generally, they get a little more. Are you listening? … The Jewish worker's salary – you pay it directly to the SS, not to the worker. He gets nothing.
Schindler: But it's less. It's less than what I would pay a Pole … that's the point I'm trying to make. Poles cost more. Why should I hire Poles?

Schindler: My father was fond of saying you need three things in life. A good doctor, a forgiving priest, and a clever accountant. The first two, I've never had much use for them. But the third …
[Schindler raises his glass to recognize Stern, but the accountant doesn't respond]
Schindler: Just pretend, for Christ's sake.
[Stern mechanically raises his glass slightly]
Stern: Is that all?
Schindler: I'm trying to thank you. I'm saying I couldn't have done this without you. The usual thing would be to acknowledge my gratitude. It would also, by the way, be the courteous thing.
Stern: You're welcome.

[Stern brings a report to Schindler's office at lunchtime]
Schindler: I could try to read this, or I could eat my lunch while it's still hot. We're doing well?
Stern: Yes.
Schindler: Better this month than last?
Stern: Yes.
Schindler: Any reason to think next month will be worse?
Stern: The war could end.

Schindler: Three hundred and fifty workers on the factory floor with one purpose … to make money – for me! … They won't soon forget the name Schindler, either. I can tell you that. Oskar Schindler, they'll say. Everybody remembers him. He did something extraordinary. He did something no one else did. He came here with nothing, a suitcase, and built a bankrupt company into a major manufactory. And left with a steamer trunk, two steamer trunks, full of money. All the riches of the world. … There's no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing. In every business I tried, I can see now it wasn't me that had failed. Something was missing. Even if I'd known what it was, there's nothing I could have done about it, because you can't create this thing. And it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.
Emilie: Luck.
Schindler: War.

Stern: I somehow left my work card at home. I tried to explain them it was a mistake, but … I'm sorry, it was stupid.
Schindler: What if I got here five minutes later? Then where would I be?

Reiter: Herr Kommandant! The entire foundation has to be torn down and repoured. If not, there will be at least a subsidence at the southern end of the barracks. Subsidence, and then collapse.
Goeth: And you are an engineer?
Reiter: Yes. My name is Diana Reiter. I'm a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Milan.
Goeth: Ah, an educated Jew … like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharführer!
Hujar: Jawohl?
Goeth: Shoot her.
Reiter: Herr Kommandant! I'm only trying to do my job!
Goeth: Ja, I'm doing mine.
Hujar: Sir, she's foreman of construction.
Goeth: We're not going to have arguments with these people.
[Hujar starts to drag Reiter away; Goeth stops him]
Goeth: No. Shoot her here, on my authority.
Reiter: It will take more than that …
Goeth: I'm sure you're right.
[Reiter is shot]
Goeth: Take it down, repour it, rebuild it, like she said.

Pfefferberg: I respectfully report I've been given orders to clear the bundles from the road so there will be no obstructions to the thoroughfare.
Goeth: [laughing] Finish and join the lines, little Polish clicking soldier.

Adam Levy: [to the SS troops] I've searched the building. There's no one here. … [to Mrs. Dresner] Come with me. I will put you in the good line.
Mrs. Dresner: Do you know the saying, "An hour of life is still life"? You are not a boy anymore. I'll say a blessing for you.

Schindler: I go to work the other day. Nobody's there. Nobody tells me about this. I have to find out, I have to go in. Everybody's gone.
Goeth: They're not gone. They're here.
Schindler: They're mine! Every day that goes by, I'm losing money. Every worker that is shot costs me money. I have to find somebody else. I have to train them.
Goeth: We're going to be making so much money, none of this is going to matter.
Schindler: It's bad business.
Goeth: Scherner told me something else about you.
Schindler: Yeah, what's that?
Goeth: That you know the meaning of the word "gratitude". That it's not some vague thing with you like it is with others. You want to stay where you are. You've got things going on the side, things are good. You don't want anybody telling you what to do. I can understand all that. You know, I know you. What you want is your own sub-camp. Do you have any idea what's involved? The paperwork alone? Forget you got to build the fucking thing, getting the fucking permits is enough to drive you crazy. Then the engineers show up. They stand around, they argue about drainage, foundations, codes, exact specifications, parallel fences four kilometers long, twelve hundred kilograms of barbed wire, six thousand kilograms of electrified fences … I'm telling you, you'll want to shoot somebody. I've been through it, you know, I know.
Schindler: Well, you know, you've been through it. You could make things easier for me. [Goeth shrugs] I'd be grateful.

Goeth: What I don't understand is that you've been working since I think what, about six this morning, yet such a small pile of hinges.
[Lewartow is led out to be shot, but Goeth's gun won't fire]
Lewartow: [closing his eyes, his voice shaking with terror] Herr Kommandant, I beg to report that my heap of hinges was so unsatisfactory because the machines were being re-calibrated this morning. I was put onto shoveling coal.
[Goeth slams the gun into Lewartow's head]

Schindler: So, what can I do for you?
Krause: They say that no one dies here. They say your factory is a haven. They say you are good.
Schindler: Who says that?
Krause: Everyone. My name is Regina Perlman, not Elsa Krause. I've been living in Krakow on false papers since the ghetto massacre. My parents are in Płaszów. Their names are Chana and Jakob Perlman. They are older people. They're killing older people now in Płaszów. They bury them up in the forest. Look, I don't have any money. I – I borrowed these clothes, I'm begging you – please, please bring them here.
Schindler: I don't do that. You've been misled. I ask one thing: whether or not a worker has certain skills. That's what I ask and that's what I care about … such activities are illegal. You will not entrap me, Miss Krause. [Krause starts to cry] Cry and I'll have you arrested, I swear to God.

Schindler: People die, it's a fact of life. He wants to kill everybody? Great, what am I supposed to do about it?! Bring everybody over? Is that what you think? "Send them over to Schindler, send them all. His place is a 'haven', didn't you know? It's not a factory, it's not an enterprise of any kind, it's a haven for rabbis and orphans and people with no skills whatsoever." You think I don't know what you're doing? You're so quiet all the time. I know, I know.
Stern: Are you losing money?
Schindler: No, I'm not losing money. That's not the point.
Stern: What other point is –
Schindler: It's dangerous! It's dangerous to me. You have to understand, Goeth is under enormous pressure. You have to think of it in his situation. He's got this whole place to run, he's responsible for everything that goes on here, all these people; he's got a lot of things to worry about. And he's got the war. Which brings out the worst in people. Never the good, always the bad. Always the bad. But in normal circumstances, he wouldn't be like this. He'd be all right. There'd just be the good aspects of him, which... he's a wonderful crook. A man who loves good food, good wine, the ladies, making money-
Stern: killing.
Schindler: He can't enjoy it.
Stern: Boyevski told me the other day. (Montage of Goeth murdering prisoners as Stern describes it) Somebody escaped from a work detail outside the wire. Goeth lined up everybody from the missing man's barracks. He shot the man to the left of Byevski, the man to the right. He walked down the line, shooting every other man with a pistol. (pause) Twenty-five.
Schindler: (defensively) What do you want me to do about it?!
Stern: Nothing, nothing. We're just talking.
Schindler: [pause, he pulls out a slip of paper] Perlman. Husband and wife.

Schindler: Why don't you build yourself up?
Helen: My first day here, he beat me because I threw out the bones from dinner. He came down to the basement at midnight and he asked me where they were – for his dogs … I said to him, "Why are you beating me?" He said, "The reason I beat you now is because you ask why I beat you."
Schindler: I know your sufferings.
Helen: It doesn't matter. I have accepted them … one day, he will shoot me.
Schindler: No, he won't shoot you.
Helen: I know. I see things. We were on the roof on Monday, young Lisiek and I, and we saw the Herr Kommandant come out of the front door and down the steps by the patio right there below us. And there on the steps, he drew his gun – he shot a woman who was passing by. A woman carrying a bundle, through the throat. Just – just a woman on her way somewhere. You know, she – she was no fatter or thinner or slower or faster than anyone else and I couldn't guess what had she done. The more you see of Herr Kommandant, the more you see there is no set rules that you can live by. You can't say to yourself, "if I follow these rules, I will be safe."
Schindler: He won't shoot you because he enjoys you too much. He enjoys you so much, he won't even let you wear the star. He doesn't want anyone else to know it's a Jew he's enjoying. He shot the woman from the steps because she meant nothing to him. She was one of a series – neither offending or pleasing him. But you, Helen. [he leans closer, as she pulls away] It's all right. It's not that kind of a kiss. [he tenderly kisses her on the forehead]

Schindler: A wonderful party, Amon. Thank you. [Goeth, who is very drunk, leans back, then slips and falls to the floor] Why do you drink that motor oil? Hmmm? I send you good stuff, all the time. Your liver's going to explode, like a hand grenade.
Goeth: [clumsily sits down] You know, I look at you. I watch you. You're not a drunk. That's, that's real control. Control is power. That's power.
Schindler: Is that why they fear us?
Goeth: We have the fucking power to kill, that's why they fear us.
Schindler: They fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily. A man commits a crime, he should know better. We have him killed and we feel pretty good about it. Or we kill him ourselves and we feel even better. That's not power, though, that's justice. That's different than power. Power is when we have every justification to kill... and we don't.
Goeth: You think that's power.
Schindler: That's what the emperors had. A man stole something, he's brought in before the emperor, he throws himself down on the ground, he begs for mercy, he knows he's going to die. And the emperor pardons him. This worthless man, he lets him go.
Goeth: I think you are drunk.
Schindler: That's power, Amon. That is power. [leans back, gestures toward Goeth as a merciful emperor] Amon the Good.
Goeth: [he smiles and laughs] I pardon you.

Schindler: What do you say we get your fire hoses out here and hose down the cars? Indulge me.
Goeth: This is really cruel, Oskar, you're giving them hope. You shouldn't do that. That's cruel!

Schindler: I'm going home. I've done what I came here for. I've got more money than any man can spend in a lifetime. … Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.
Stern: I think I'd better have it now.

Goeth: You want these people?
Schindler: These people, my people, I want my people.
Goeth: Who are you, Moses? Come on, what is this? Where's the money in this, where's the scam?
Schindler: It's good business.
Goeth: Yeah, it's "good business" in your opinion. Look, you've got to move them, the equipment, everything to Czechoslovakia, pay for all that and build another camp. It doesn't make any sense … you're not telling me something.
Schindler: It's good for me. I know them, I'm familiar with them, I don't have to train them. It's good for you. I'll compensate you … it's good for the Army. You know what I'm going to make? … Artillery shells … tank shells. They need that, everybody's happy.
Goeth: Everyone's happy except me. You're probably scamming me somehow. If I'm making a hundred, you've got to be making three. And if you admit to making three, then it's four, actually. But how?
Schindler: I just told you.
Goeth: Yeah, you did, but you didn't. Yeah, all right, don't tell me, I'll go along with it. It's just irritating I can't work it out.
Schindler: Look, all you have to do is tell me what it's worth to you. What's a person worth to you?
Goeth: No, no, no, no. What's one worth to you?

Stern: How many cigarettes have you smoked tonight?
Schindler: Too many.
Stern: [coughing] For every one you smoke, I smoke half.

Schindler: That's it. You can finish that page.
Stern: What did Goeth say about this? You just told him how many people you needed, and – you're not buying them. You're buying them? You're paying him for each of these names?
Schindler: If you were still working for me, I'd expect you to talk me out of it. It's costing me a fortune. Finish the page and leave one space at the bottom.
Stern: The list is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.

Goeth: Oskar, there's a clerical error here at the bottom of the last page.
Schindler: No, there's one more name I want to put there. I'll never find a maid as well trained as her at Brinnlitz. They are all country girls.
Goeth: [referring to Helen] No. No.
Schindler: One hand of twenty-one. If you win, I pay you 7,400 Reichsmarks. Hit a natural and I make it 14,800. If I win, the girl goes on my list.
Goeth: I can't wager Helen in a card game.
Schindler: Why not?
Goeth: Wouldn't be right.
Schindler: She's going to Auschwitz Number Two anyway. What difference does it make?
Goeth: She's not going to Auschwitz. I'd never do that to her. No, I want her to come back to Vienna with me. I want her to come to work for me there. I want to grow old with her.
Schindler: Are you mad? Amon, you can't take her to Vienna with you.
Goeth: No, of course I can't. That's what I'd like to do. What I can do, if I'm any sort of a man, is the next most merciful thing. I should take her into the woods and shoot her painlessly in the back of the head. What was it you said for a natural 21? Was it 14,800?

Mrs. Dresner: Sir, a mistake has been made. We're not supposed to be here. We work for Oskar Schindler. We're Schindler Jews.
Dr. Mengele: Who is Oskar Schindler?
Auschwitz Guard: He had a factory in Krakow. Enamelware.
Dr. Mengele: A potmaker.

Hoss: I have a shipment coming in tomorrow. I'll cut you three hundred units from it. New ones. These are fresh. The train comes, we turn it around. It's yours.
Schindler: Yes, I understand. I want these.
Hoss: You shouldn't get stuck on names. That's right. It creates a lot of paperwork.

Stern: We've received an angry complaint from the Armaments Board. The artillery shells, tank shells, rocket casings, apparently all of them have failed quality-control tests.
Schindler: Well, that's to be expected – start-up problems. This isn't pots and pans. This is a precise business. I'll write them a letter.
Stern: They're withholding payment.
Schindler: Sure, so would I, so would you. I wouldn't worry about it. We'll get it right one of these days.
Stern: There's a rumor you've been going around miscalibrating the machines. They could shut us down, send us back to Auschwitz.
Schindler: I'll call around, find out where we can buy shells, pass them off as ours.
Stern: I don't see the difference whether they're made here or somewhere else.
Schindler: You don't see a difference? I see a difference.
Stern: You'll lose a lot of money, that's the difference.
Schindler: Fewer shells will be made. Stern, if this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy.

[Inside the Brinnlitz factory, Schindler finds Rabbi Lewartow machining a shell casing]
Schindler: How are you doing, Rabbi? …Rabbi!
[Lewartow stops working and turns to him]
Lewartow: Good, Herr Direktor.
Schindler: Sun's going down.
Lewartow: Yes, it is.
Schindler: What day is this? Friday? It is Friday, isn't it?
Lewartow: Is it?
Schindler: What's the matter with you? You should be preparing for the Sabbath, shouldn't you? I've got some wine, in my office. Come.

Stern: Do you have any money hidden away someplace that I don't know about?
Schindler: No. Why, am I broke?
Stern: Uh, well …

Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just … I could have got more.
Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Schindler: If I'd made more money … I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just …
Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Schindler: I didn't do enough!
Stern: You did so much.
[Schindler looks at his car]
Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
[Removing Nazi pin from lapel]
Schindler: This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. He would've given me one, one more. One more person. A person, Stern. For this. I could have gotten one more person... [collapses, sobbing] And I didn't! I-I didn't!
[Emilie, Stern, and the nearest workers crowd in and embrace Schindler]

Soviet officer: You have been liberated by the Soviet Army!
Stern: Have you been in Poland?
Soviet officer: I just came from Poland.
Stern: Are there any Jews left?
Lemper: Where should we go?
Soviet officer: Don't go east, that's for sure. They hate you there. I wouldn't go west either, if I were you.
Nowak: We could use some food.
Soviet officer: [pointing toward the town of Brinnlitz] Isn't that a town over there?

Taglines[edit]

  • Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.
  • The List Is Life.
  • A story of courage that the world needs now more than ever.
  • Una vela no pierde su luz por compartirla con otra. (Spanish, "A candle loses nothing by lighting another", attributed to Father James Keller)

Cast[edit]

About Schindler's List[edit]

  • Has Godard or any other director living or dead done more than Spielberg, with his Holocaust Project, to honor and preserve the memories of the survivors?"
  • Roger Ebert (October 18, 2002). "In Praise of Love". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved April 28, 2007.
  • I regard as kitsch any representation of the Holocaust that is incapable of understanding or unwilling to understand the organic connection between our own deformed mode of life and the very possibility of the Holocaust.
  • Imre Kertesz "Holocaust Reflections". English.illinois.edu. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
  • Rernicious in its impact and influence. Very sentimental
  • Think that's about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn't it? The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed. Schindler's List is about 600 who don't.
  • Goldman, A.J. (August 25, 2005). "Stanley Kubrick's Unrealized Vision". Jewish Journal (Tribe Media Corp). Retrieved October 22, 2013.
  • Claude Lanzmann The New York Times, December 6, 2010 Maker of 'Shoah' Stresses Its Lasting Value
  • Steven's gift to his mother, to his people, and in a sense to himself. Now he is a full human being.
  • This looks and feels like nothing Hollywood has ever made before.It is] "Spielberg's most intense and personal film to date.
  • The Holocaust was life without light. For me the symbol of life is color. That's why a film about the Holocaust has to be in black-and-white.
  • Steven Spielberg Palowski, Franciszek (1998) [1993]. The Making of Schindler's List: Behind the Scenes of an Epic Film. Secaucus, NJ: Carol Publishing Group. ISBN 1-55972-445-5.
  • I was hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing. My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah. And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the time.
  • Steven Spielberg on his emotional state during the shoot McBride, Joseph (1997). Steven Spielberg: A Biography. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-81167-7.

See also[edit]

External links[edit]

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