Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The history of the holocaust and its effects
The history of the holocaust and its effects
The history of the holocaust and its effects
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The history of the holocaust and its effects
The Jewish Holocaust was a tragic event in world history. The containment and extermination of the Jews and other minority groups began on January 30, 1933 and lasted until May 8, 1945. During this horrific period in time millions of lives were lost. The Jewish community alone lost nearly a million people per year. In total throughout all of Europe sixty-three percent of the Jewish population was estimated to have been killed (Rutgers University). That's a total of 5,962,129 Jews. Only 3,546,211 Jewish people survived the Holocaust. 1600 of those 3,546,211 Jews lived to share their stories of horror and survival because of a greedy businessman who needed workers to make him money. That man was Oskar Schindler. Oskar was a drinker, a gambler, a cheater, a liar, and a money hungry egoist with a taste for the luxuries that life had to offer. And he was a Nazi, go figure. But according to Steven Spielberg, director of Schindler's List, Oskar Schindler was a decent man, not a saint, just a decent man.
Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908, in Svitavy (Zwittau), Moravia, it is located on the Czechoslovakian side of the German border, with the border running through the town (United Holocaust Memorial Museum). He spent his youth working in various factories and other business ventures like opening a driving school and selling government property in Brno (UHMM). He married Emilie Pelzl in 1928 before joining the Czechoslovakian army at the beginning of WWII where he rose to the rank of lance corporal in the reserves. A year later he joined the Nazi party. It was only after the invasion and occupation of Poland that he moved to Krakow. In the film he made this decision to take advantage of the new business opportunit...
... middle of paper ...
...ocaust Memorial Museum.
N.p., 2011. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
Marrus, Michael R. “The Holocaust in History”. University Press of New England. 1987. p 126.
Rutgers University. “Holocaust Statistic”. April 28, 2013. Web. February 5, 2014.
Schindler's List. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Universal. 1993. DVD.
SnakeBISHOP. “Steven Spielberg on Schindler's List” YouTube, YouTube.
July 19, 2008. Web. January 30, 2014.
Stern, Kenneth S. “Holocaust Denial”. The American Jewish Committee. 1993. pg 1.
The Sheik 1976. “20-Minute Interview "Steven Spielberg on Schindler's List"” YouTube. YouTube, June 12, 2013. Web. January 29, 2014.
United Holocaust Memorial Museum. “Sir Ben Kingsley talks about playing Itzak Stern in Schindler's List” March 1, 2011. Web. February 4, 2014.
Weinraub, Bernard. “Steven Spielberg Faces the Holocaust” New York Times. Dec 12, 1993.
Born on December 31, 1908, Simon Wiesenthal lived in Buczacz, Germany which is now known as the Lvov Oblast section of the Ukraine. The Nazi Hunter came from a small Jewish family who suffered horrifically during the Holocaust (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Wiesenthal spent a great amount of time trying to survive in the harsh conditions while in internment camps and after escaping the last camp he attended. Wiesenthal spent weeks traveling through the wilderness until he was eventually captured by the Allies, still wondering the entire time if his wife was even alive (The Simon Wiesenthal Center). Of the 3000 prisoners in the camp Wiesenthal escaped from, only 1200 survived and Wiesenthal was one of them (Holocaust Research Project).
As it is said that during wars, a third party always benefits; the movie also shows how a Nazi-Czech business man (who is more of an opportunist and war profiteer) Oskar Schindler, uses Jewish laborers to start a factory pre-occupied in Poland. As a member of the Nazi party, Schindler is essentially politically driven and knows how to deal with the bureaucracy and those in power to get what he wants. Over time, he gets deeply affected by the treatment to Jews and begins to take steps to protect around 1500 people who worked for him. He was successful in convincing the authorities to build a new factory where the employees were interned and goes out of his way to hire those who face the rage of the camp commandant, Amon Goeth. When the camp is closed, he somehow manages to transfer "his" Jews to a new factory in Czechoslovakia. During all the hardships and struggle when the train carrying the women is diverted to Auschwitz, Schindler races to free them using a part of his fortune and his power to have them released. By the end of the war, Schindler has lost everything but has managed to save the lives of around 1100 of his employees. As World War II progressed, and the fate of the Jews became more and more clear, Schindler's motivations switched from profit to human sympathy, and Schindlerjuden, (literally translated as Schindler Jews) a new community was formed of around 1100 Jews who were saved from the deadly holocaust by Oskar
Rosenbaum, Alan S. Is The Holocaust Unique?. 3rd ed. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 2008. 387. Print.
"History of the Holocaust - An Introduction." Jewish Virtual Library - Homepage. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Web. 8 July 2010. .
...he So-Called Mischlinge.” The Holocaust and History. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Peck. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1998. 155-133.
Orlando: Houghton Publishing Company, 2012. 510-564. Print. The. Achieve 3000 “Remembering The Holocaust” 13 Mar. 2006.
A hero is a man who, in the opinion of others, is greatly admired for his brave deeds and fine qualities. A hero is a man who, in the opinion of others, is greatly admired for his brave deeds and fine qualities. In Schindler’s List directed by Steven Spielberg, Oskar Schindler is regarded as a great hero amongst many Jews regardless of the fact that he is a German Nazi, because he saves the generations and lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the systematic mass murder of about 6 million Jews and millions of others during World War II that was taken place in Nazi Concentration Camps, under the German Nazi regime. In the midst of this brutal time period, Oskar Schindler finds the heart to undergo a change from being the mere pragmatic, rich man to becoming the virtuous, good man who helps save Jews. But rather than a benefactor, Oskar Schindler was more of a self-motivator who set goals upon his own visions and dreams, and one who undertook goals to have them achieved into reality. We see this characteristic in Schindler being brought forth when he works toward his goal in becoming rich, when he influences some of his self motivation on Goeth, and when Schindler approaches toward his newly changed goal in saving Jews.
Most people would have the Jews all sent to camps, and get a new bunch when they arrived, but not Schindler. He packed up the whole bunch and took them with him to Czechoslovakia. He couldn’t bear to send them away. But there was a mix up and the women were sent to Auschwitz. Did he stop there? No sir, that man rode a train back up there and made an excuse why he needed every one of them, even the little girls. He cared enough to go all the way up there, and do that for them.
Levi, Neil, and Michael Rothberg. The Holocaust: Theoretical Readings. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2003. Print.
Bard, Mitchell G., ed. "Introduction." Introduction. The Holocaust. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2001.
Schindlers List "Memory is all we have, and when the memories are dreadful- when they hold images of the pain we have suffered or, perhaps inflicted- they are what we are try to escape" (Corliss 110). Steven Spielberg captures the audience in this critically acclaimed movie about the Holocaust. Schindlers List is a movie made to induce the mind into the unknown, the horrors of World War II. David Ansen states "Schindlers List plunges us into the nightmare of the Holocaust with newsreel-like urgency- and amazing restraint" (Newsweek 113). Spielberg brings out all emotions in recapturing this monstrous time period. Schindlers List is about Oskar Schindler, a German Nazi who uses the Jews to make money off the war. At the beginning of the movie Schindler is portrayed as a womanizer, gambler, and heavy drinker. He becomes friends with some top Nazi officials to better himself. As the movie progresses Schindler begins to produce war materials using the Jews as a labor force. As he sits back and watches the various actions of the Nazis he begins to question his morals. His accountant, Itzhak Stern, begins making a list of around 1200 Jews. These Jews were to come and work in Schindlers' factory. When Germany surrendered all of the Nazis were to be hunted. Many Jews thanked him and all of the workers wrote a letter explaining Schindlers' actions. Also, a gold ring was given to him inscribed, "Whoever saves one life saves the world entire" (Talmud). Schindler said good-bye to his workers and fled. Only now the Jews are liberated to have nowhere to go and nowhere to leave. Many great directors concentrate on dialogue, scenery, and plat; however, Spielberg stresses the importance of camera angles and the effect of black and white film, scenes and characters, on viewers in Schindlers List. With his outstanding work on camera angles, Steven Spielberg holds the audience at breath while waiting for the next scene. Spielberg uses a hand held camera to grasp the effects. David Denby explains how the use of a handheld camera is much more accurate. "The camera keeps moving […] moving fast, chasing corners and up stairways […]." Spielberg makes the movie look "like and advertent look of newsreel footage" (1282). Life magazine quoted Spielberg discussing the image of Amon Goeth sunbathing. A man named Raymon...
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims." A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust-Victims. University of South Florida. Web. 19 May 2014.
The Holocaust was one of the most tragic and trying times for the Jewish people. Hundreds of thousands of Jews and other minorities that the Nazis considered undesirable were detained in concentration camps, death camps, or labor camps. There, they were forced to work and live in the harshest of conditions, starved, and brutally murdered. Horrific things went on in Auschwitz and Majdenek during the Holocaust that wiped out approximately 1,378,000 people combined. “There is nothing that compares to the Holocaust.” –Fidel Castro
Oskar Schindler was a wealthy German industrialist, who made much of his wealth by employing Jewish men and women in his various factories. In the movie “ Schindler’s List,” it starts off with Schindler in a restaurant with many high ranking Nazi officers eating there. He starts off by buying a officer a bottle of expensive wine, but it does not end there. Before the night is gone he has boughten dinner for all of the officers. This is how he made friends, friends with power.