Watch Schindlers List in class.
Do the questions below.
Do the questions below.
SCHINDLER’S LIST is one of the
most powerful movies of all time. It is a 1993 movie based on the novel
“Schindler’s List” by Thomas Keneally. It tells the compelling true story of
the German businessman Oskar Schindler who comes to Nazi-occupied Poland looking
for economic prosperity and leaves as a savior of more than 1,100 Jews. A
charming and sly entrepreneur, Schindler bribes and befriends the Nazi
authorities to gain control of a factory in Krakow by aryanization, which he
staffs with Jewish slave - laborers, and soon he is making a fortune. But among
the Jews who work for him is Itzhak Stern, the plant manager, who in his
benevolence sees to it that Schindler's workforce includes the most vulnerable
and cherished members of Krakow's Jewish community.
Main Characters:
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Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson): German businessman who runs a
Jewish-slavelabor factory
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Itzhak Stern (Ben Kingsley): Jewish Plant Manager
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Amon Goeth (Ralph Fiennes): Nazi leader who managed the Jewish labor
camp
DAY 1
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What happens to the one armed machinist? What does this show about the
SS soldiers?
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Why do you think Schindler demands for Itzhak Stern to get off the
train?
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How is Stern an asset to Schindler?
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Describe the demeanor of Amon Goeth. What does he do to the Jewish
engineer? Why?
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What is Amon Goeth saying about the Jews to other German soldiers?
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Describe the process of liquidation of Krakow (Ghetto).
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Why do you think Goeth executes at random?
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Schindler observes a wandering Jewish girl in a red coat. What is the
significance of this “girl in red?” What does she represent or symbolize?
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This is one of the four occasions in the film when color is used. Why is
color used? What statement does this make?
“I didn’t do any camera tricks, except
this one moment, where I wanted there to be color on the red winter coat of the
little girl,” Spielberg said in the documentary “Imaginary Witness. “That was
how Thomas Keneally describes her, because Schindler made an observation when
he was sitting on his horse watching the liquidation of the ghetto. He noticed
that no one was selecting the most obvious color in a very monochromatic
scheme.
“And my interpretation of that was that
America and Russia and England all knew about the Holocaust when it was
happening, and yet we did nothing about it. We didn’t assign any of our forces
to stopping the march toward death, the inexorable march toward death. It was a
large bloodstain, primary red color on everyone’s radar, but no one did
anything about it. And that’s why I wanted to bring the color red in.”
Day 2
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What are happening to the bodies? Why are they doing this?
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What are Schindler and Stern creating? Why?
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Why do you think the women get sent to Auschwitz? What happens to them
there?
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How does Schindler get the women to come to his factory? How does he
persuade the officers to accept the children to come to his factory?
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Describe Schindler’s speech about the end of the war. What is happening
to all the Jews?
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What happens to Goeth?
Overall Discussion Question:
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It is obvious that Schindler risked his life to save the Jews. Did he do
it out of empathy, impulse, self-interest, influence? What things did Oskar see
that helped him understand the horror of the situation? Give specific examples
of his benevolence. Was Oskar dedicated from the beginning, pushed by Stern, or
only when he received the ring was he sure he had done the right thing? Did
Oskar ever really realize how much he had done?
