Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp

served to reinforce my bias of the cruelty of the Nazis. While horseback riding, Schindler witnesses a ghetto Aktion, an Aktion is a non-military campaign to further Nazi ideals: “… they shot the women in the neck, and one of them, when the boy slid down the wall shimmering, jammed a boot down his head as if to hold it still and put the barrel against the back of his neck” (Keneally 129). The cruelty to which the SS operates in the book sickens me. I can still picture the cruel imagery of the brutal abuse and extermination of Jews. The story goes on to develop the character of Amon Goeth, the butcher of Płaszów, who is based on the real life Amon Goeth. He was an Austrian SS-Hauptsturmführer and the commandant of the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp. His hatred for Jews and passion for the Nazi ideology leads him committing the worst war crimes. One morning Goeth steps out onto his front balcony: “… Goeth stepped out of his front door and murdered a prisoner at random … would soon prove to be habitual, and so would be Amon’s morning routine” (192). His lack of humanity allows him to do things unfathomable to me. Goeth orders the prisoner to be tested, in order to see which ones were capable of manual labour. All those who could not pass were…

concerned humanitarian. As a high ranking member of the Nazi party he has placed himself in a position of power and influence. As the story progresses, he is determined to use that power and influence to save as many Jews from certain death as possible. The turning point for Schindler was witnessing the violent evacuation of the Krakow ghetto. Amongst a sea of men and women (filmed in black and white) being rounded up like cattle into trucks bound for concentration camps. He catches a…