Schindler's List Paperback – December 1, 1993

An Unlikely Hero: On Schindler’s List by Thomas KeneallySlavery is perhaps the most debasing system in human civilization. It degrades human beings to the status of property. Slaves are bought and sold like objects. They are forced to work for free or for flimsy compensation, often in grueling and inhumane conditions. Sometimes they are raped and beaten by their owners. Slaves are deprived of all human rights and of their dignity. With the exception of the Holocaust, I don’t know of any other period in human history when slavery was desired by the slaves themselves and when forced labor became a saving grace for the victims. In such a dark epoch, when everything conspired to wipe the Jewish people of the face of the Earth, enslaving over a thousand of them in an enamel factory became an act of courage and heroism.As incredible as this topsy-turvy perspective may seem to contemporary readers, this is the story of Thomas Keneally’s great historical novel, Schindler’s List. The novel is based upon the eyewitness accounts of several of the Jewish survivors saved by the German industrialist Oskar Schindler. It is a biographical fiction in the strict sense of the term. In fact, Keneally states, “most exchanges and conversations, and all events, are based on the detailed recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), of Schindler himself, and of other witnesses to Oskar’s acts of outrageous rescue”. (New York: Touchstone, Schindler’s List, 1982, Author’s Note, 10)Oskar Schindler is, by the author’s own account, an unlikely hero. As Keneally acknowledges in the Prologue, Oskar Schindler “was not a virtuous man in the customary sense of the term”. (Schindler’s List, 14) We tend to think of heroes as virtuous individuals: people with extraordinary character and moral fortitude. Yet Oskar Schindler was an average man, with ordinary human foibles. He was a sensualist and an honest womanizer: if that’s not a contradiction in terms. He openly cheated on his virtuous wife, Emilie, with both long-term mistresses and countless casual lovers. He loved carousing with his friends, business partners, acquaintances and escorts. Worse yet, he was a member of the Nazi party, initially joining its ranks out of genuine political conviction, of his own free will.Though quickly disillusioned by the Nazis, Schindler nonetheless hopes to profit financially from the new regime. An ethnic German from the Sudetenland, he moves to Krakow Poland to set up an enamelware factory that will employ the slave labor of local Jews. The large Jewish community in Krakow was isolated from the rest of the population by the Nazis in a ghetto, which was formally established in March 1941 in the Podgorze district. Schindler witnesses the incredible cruelty manifested by the SS towards the 15,000 helpless Jewish civilians as well as the random acts of violence of his sociopathic country mate, Amos Goeth, who regards the captive Jews as his personal property and prey.This biographical novel presents a slice of history and a study of contrasts: between times of normalcy and the mass insanity of the Nazi era; between the humane actions of Oskar Schindler and the savage inhumanity of Amon Goeth. Without the dark figure of Goeth, it would be more difficult to appreciate Schindler’s heroism and humanity.Amos Goeth, the SS Second Lieutenant in charge of liquidating the Krakow ghetto and of overseeing the Plaszow concentration and labor camp, is a malicious sadist. He savagely beats his Jewish servant, Helen Hirsch, and kills Jewish inmates, randomly, just for sport. As the narrator states, “No one knew Amon’s precise reason for settling on that prisoner—Amon certainly did not have to document his motives. With one blast from the doorstep, the man was plucked from the group of pushing and pulling captives and hurled sideways in the road” (192).By way of contrast to Goeth’s predatory cat and mouse games, Schindler exhibits compassion, courage and character. He uses all his connections, resourcefulness and wealth to save as many Jews as possible during the Holocaust. Threatened by the advance of the Russian army on the Eastern front, the Nazis dismantle the Plaszow labor and concentration camp. When he finds out about their plans to send most of the prisoners to their deaths in Auschwitz, Schindler promises those who worked for him that he would save them. He sets up a small munitions factory in his hometown of Brinnlitz, Czechoslovakia, where he eventually manages to bring over 1500 Jews. In these horrific times, slavery becomes the Jews’ only salvation. “Oskar’s list, in the mind of some, was already more than a mere fabulation. It was a List. It was a sweet chariot which might swing low” (277).The Nazi regimes brought out the worst in many people throughout Germany and occupied Europe: at best, a cruel indifference to the enslavement and massacre of Jews; at worst, various degrees of collusion with the local Nazi administrations. Yet these evil times also brought out the best in some, like Oskar Schindler. His acts of courage and resourcefulness have inspired the blockbuster movie, Schindler’s List (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg. Perhaps this is why we still know of Oskar Schindler to this day. But the greatest homage to this ordinary man who did his best to protect fellow human beings from the Nazi savagery remains that he will be forever remembered and honored by generations of Jews as an extraordinary hero.Claudia Moscovici, Holocaust Memory

So much information about the workings of the Jews of Poland, the German army & SS Police, the civilians of Central Europe, it’s overwhelming but I couldn’t stop reading it. The stories amazed me but the details of how people survived and manipulated their lives during WWII was astounding & incredible.Oscar Schindler found his calling during the war & worked it like no one else but saved people’s lives in the process. He tried to affect people’s future with his talent for the black market and most of all his charm.I realize this is a novel but if half of it is based on facts, it’s still amazing.I loved this book & again consider myself so lucky my family wasn’t in Europe during the war.

Yes, I saw the movie, prepared by all the brilliance of Spielberg, and it moved me deeply. Still, within a short time, the horror abated and I went on with life. Here, the reader is able to dig in to the motives and the machinations of this complicated man. Someone needed to stand up for the hated innocents. Someone needed to intercede and intervene. Schindler was that someone. One thing the book does and a movie could not do is tell subsequent history which shows some of the lasting impact of Schindler’s List. This book will stay with me.

Thomas Keneally's Man Booker Prize winning novel about how Oscar Schindler saved around 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust is one of the most astounding factual historical stories I have read. Many of you will have seen Spielberg's excellent film of "Schindlers' List". The novel on which it is based gives the reader a better understanding of Schindler than can be conveyed in a 3 hour movie.Keneally was inspired to write the book when he met Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor, who had extensive files about Schindler. Before writing the book Keneally had discussions with survivors (mostly "Schindlerjuden" - Schindler Jews) in many countries, including Australia, Israel, West Germany, Austria, the United States, Argentina, and Brazil. Keneally uses the devices of a novel to describe the enigmatic and ambiguous character of Schindler and how he risked his own life to help many Jews and eventually to save some of them from the death camps. Keneally dedicated the book to Pfefferberg: "who by zeal and persistence caused this book to be written."Oskar Schindler was born in Austria but moved to Cracow in Poland just before the war. There he acted as a model German as a member of a party affiliated to the Nazis and wore a Swastika lapel badge. Oskar was a salesman and a dealer by temperament who knew that at that time when you went in to a German company manager wearing the badge, you got the order. Through his many contacts Schindler profited from the Jewish demise, gaining a large apartment and acquiring an enamel factory making cooking and eating utensils in great demand by the military. He employs many Jews in his factory at low wages who are being forced by the SS to live in the cramped and increasingly dangerous Cracow ghetto.Schindler is an enigmatic character, an entrepreneur and salesman, a womaniser, a boozer, a black marketeer, and a manipulator who is never afraid to use any form of bribery to get what he wants. His social and drinking circle includes most of the senior SS in the region many of whom are violent sociopaths involved with the ultimate solution to the "Jewish problem". Even when he gets permission to set up his own camp next to his factory and provides extra food for the prisoners at his expense from the black market he was still socialising with SS officers in charge of death camps. His womanising continues and he was even spotted by his staff when he was skinny dipping in a water tank with an attractive, and frequently brutal, female SS guard.Why did Schindler finish up risking his life to help and save so many Jews? You will have to read this meticulously researched book to attempt an answer. One suggestion in the book is that one day Schindler saw the SS expelling Jews from the Cracow ghetto, and executing those who didn't comply. He experienced an epiphany so that "Beyond this day," he would claim, "no thinking person could fail to see what would happen. I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system."This is a fascinating, memorable but frequently brutal masterpiece of a book. It is a an inside story of one of the most terrible times in human history. Keneally tells the story in a somewhat dispassionate way that allows the reader to try to understand what really happened. It is also a good news story - for the few Schindlerjuden - and is emotionally heartwarming as they supported Schindler after the war. Many of the the Schindlerjuden became successful in business, qualified as doctors and lawyers, and became Judges and influential members of their adopted countries. Israel acknowledged what Schindler did and his final resting place is in a Catholic cemetery in Jerusalem.

I saw the movie years ago and liked it & was interested to know more, so I got this book. It was dry & dull reading, like an encyclopedia. Just the facts. No emotion, no personality to the book, nothing to make the story or the people stand out. I wouldn’t recommend this book. See the movie instead.

If you're reading this review, that suggests that you are considering buying this novel.Do so now.Schindler's Ark is a remarkable novel that details a remarkable story. Oskar Schindler's rescue of thousands of men, women, and children from the Nazi death machine, is one of the most familiar narratives to arise out of the terrible events of the Holocaust and World War II. Yes, the novel details the appalling machinations that one culture employs to destroy another culture, and those details will have you reeling in horror. You will meet figures of appalling brutality; normal men and women who live only half a normal life, the other half being devoted to becoming creatures of nightmares. But you will also meet Oskar Schindler and his friends, people who give lie to the claim 'there was nothing we could do', who will reaffirm you faith in your fellow man, even as the other side seeks to destroy it. There is something gloriously anarchic in the joie du vivre with which Oskar sticks two fingers up to his own society, and tries to undo some small corner of its evil scheme. You'll cry a lot as you read, but occasionally you'll laugh, and with real pleasure. And you'll ask the question 'what would I do?'

I cannot believe the accolades and awards this book has. And all those 5-star reviews are misrepresented! People aren't giving the writing 5 stars, they're giving Schindler and his good deeds 5 stars, because this book is, without doubt, the WORST book I've ever read.I've read everything from To Kill a Mockingbird to Killing Floor - literary classics to modern commercial fiction - but nothing prepared me for this rambling, garbled mess of a book.I've seen the film. Very moving. The book? It's not a coherent story and what there is is told in such a longwinded, boring way, it's impossible to properly connect with the events or the characters.One of the biggest problems is Keneally doesn't "show" the story, but just tells you what happens in summary, like a reporter would. For example, Schindler has an argument with someone and ends up punching them, but the author only tells you it happened instead of describing the scene so you can picture it in your head. Likewise, he tells you about shootings at a synagogue instead of showing the scene. He tells you Schindler is charming and cunning at making deals, but he doesn't show you any scene to prove it.Dialogue?There's hardly any. Again, the author tells you in summary what was said instead of letting you see the characters and hear them chatting by showing them actually having a conversation.He also addresses the reader directly like authors used to do centuries ago, which throws you out of the story.The story also jumps around into different people's heads to tell you how the feel/think without any warning, sometimes even in the same paragraph.The author also has an incredibly annoying habit of changing how he refers to a character, sometimes using their first name, sometimes their last, sometimes their rank, sometimes their profession... It's hard and frustrating to keep track of who is doing what sometimes. He'll introduce a character and refer to them by surname, then later, for no reason, change to first name, so you're left thinking 'who'?It's like the author believes it's more interesting if he mixes the names about a bit for variety.He also plays with the timeline the way ancient authors did with the kind of "little does Schindler know now that in two years time blah, blah, blah".The writing is DIABOLICAL.I imagine it's an excellent example for budding writers to study on how not to write!If this was fiction, it would have been laughed out of every publisher's office in the world. The only reason it was successful is because the story of Schindler is moving, but unfortunately, the way it is told here is anything but. It's a sprawling mess of garbled thoughts, antiquated writing techniques, and dire, dire, dire lack of imagination to bring the characters and settings to life.

This is not a book anyone ought to “like.” It is a disturbing book. It describes in detail the nightmarish experiences of Jews suffering persecution and extermination under the Nazis in Poland during the 1939-45 war. Neither should anyone “dislike” it, because it bears the ring of truth and it is necessary that we are reminded of such evil things. The book describes how German industrialist and businessman Oskar Schindler, a Nazi party member but wholeheartedly opposed to the Nazi treatment of the Jews, does all he can to protect and preserve as many Jews as he can in his factory annexed to a concentration camp, until their liberation at the end of the war. The affection of Schindler for those in his care, and their desperate hope in him shines from the pages and at times brings the reader to the brink of tears. A very powerful, chilling and moving story.

I bought this book after a recent trip to Cracow so it was good to be able to put images to places in the text. However I found the book a little slow and would not call it a page turner as such. Some of the sentence and paragraph structure was a little odd and had to be read twice in order to make sense of them. I got bogged down somewhat and struggled to finish it and am surprised it won the Booker Prize, but would still recommend people to give it a go none the less.

I knew the story of Oskar Schindler, but I can't tell you how sad the ending of this book is...for a completely different reason to the Holocaust.This book looks quite "short" but by the same token is quite involving, so although it's a page turner it reads as heavily as a non fiction book would. It creates a mixture of emotions that the book creates from anger, disbelief to extreme sadness.It's a book that would be interesting to read with a book club to see what other people make of it, but it's certainly one that sticks with you.