Napoli At Schindler Case Study

What do you think, did Schindler risk his life to save Jews? Did he do it to please others or to please himself?

At first, Schindler was merely seeking to turn a profit when taking Jews to his factory, but as he continued to watch the Jewish persecution, he became fully prepared to lose everything, even his life, to stop the Jewish persecution. Schindler begins as a Nazi collaborator, trying to aid the war effort by mass producing pots for use in the war. He does this by employing Jews as workers, as they are less expensive to purchase than Poles are. As he makes more pots, Schindler turns a greater profit from his initial investment. When the Krakow ghetto is liquidated, Schindler’s position shifts to that of a bystander. He is not directly …show more content…
Schindler’s decision to save the Jews was a gradual process, and didn’t happen at any one instant. The first hint of Schindler possibly wanting to help the Jews occurs when Schindler becomes enraged at the Nazis who shot his one-armed machinist. Moments ago, we saw Schindler quite upset at the worker for coming to thank him for saving him, but now Schindler is upset at his death, demanding replacements. This quick change in Schindler’s personality hints at a possible shift in his opinion on the Jews. Another event that seemed to influence Schindler towards rescue was witnessing the deportation from the Krakow ghetto, especially when he sees the girl in red. Schindler’s face provides a look of both awe and horror at the sight of the little girl running through the shooting. After witnessing the deportation, Schindler has reached the point where he desperately tries to get his friend, Itzhak Stern out of the ghetto, but has still not committed fully to a mass Jewish rescue. Schindler comes closer to the ultimate Jewish rescue when he saves a woman’s parents after she comes to his factory, as well as when he hoses down the Jews train cars to give them water, however Schindler still makes no effort towards a mass rescue, but instead seems to just be against the Jews suffering as much as they were. The turning point in Schindler’s decision to rescue the Jews was when he saw the exhumation and burning of thousands of Jewish bodies, including the girl in red. Schindler gets a horrified expression on his face. The next morning, Schindler begins rounding up his money to purchase Jews from Amon Goeth, beginning his rescue. Schindler’s experience and journey toward saving the Jews resembles that of the Milgram Experiment. Schindler is the “teacher” and the