Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Schindler’s List, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Virtue and Selflessness
Anti-Semitism and Dehumanization
Power
Duty
Bureaucracy
Summary
Analysis
Next to Schindler’s enamelware plant is the German Box Factory. Originally, it had been Jereth’s Box Factory and belonged to Ernst Jereth, who still works as the unofficial manager. Schindler sometimes comes by and speaks to him, learning of the increasingly desperate situation in the ghetto. Jereth doesn’t see any end to Germany’s domination.
Again, Schindler doesn’t know specifically how or if Jereth will be able to help him in the future, but he tries to make as many connections as he can. Because Schindler isn’t Jewish and is an outsider to the Cracow ghetto—and because the Nazis keep their inner workings and plans under wraps—he relies on people like Jereth to feed him crucial information.
Themes
After his reconciliation with his father, Schindler starts receiving letters from him. His father doesn’t believe Hitler will last. Schindler enjoys these letters and sends money home to his father.
Schindler’s reconciliation with his father provides a hopeful counterpoint to some of the darker events in the book, showing that some disputes really can be solved simply through open communication.
Themes
Near the end of 1941, Schindler suddenly finds himself under arrest. Some unknown person denounced him, so two Gestapo officers show up at his house and present warrants. They ask for his business files but don’t seem to know exactly which files they need. Schindler makes a list for his secretary of people he claims he was going to have appointments with that day, but it’s really a list of people he wants to see so that they can help bail him out.
Schindler’s arrest shows how suddenly a person’s fortune can change in wartime Cracow—even for a successful German like Schindler. The Nazis not only oppress and brutalize Jewish people, but they also maintain their power by suppressing anyone suspected of standing in the way of their agenda. Nevertheless, Schindler remains cool under pressure and knows that his best chance of getting out is to tap his local contacts.
Themes
The first name on Schindler’s list is Julian Scherner, and the second is Martin Plathe of the Abwehr. Third is Franz Bosch (whom Schindler had given kitchenware to earlier). Schindler suspects that his arrest must have something to do with the black market.
None of the men on Schindler’s list are good friends of his, but he has built working relationships with all of them, in part because he knows how to offer something useful to them.
Themes
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Schindler charms the Gestapo man who interviews him. He reminds the man that his factory meets its quotas. The Gestapo man asks who the plant manager is, and Schindler admits that it’s the Jewish man Abraham Bankier. The Gestapo man admits that Schindler’s paperwork may be in order, but they’ll need more from Bankier to confirm. Schindler is detained. He is kept in a nice bedroom while awaiting a decision.
At this comparatively early stage in the war, the Gestapo are less likely to persecute a useful industrialist like Schindler, who contributes to the war effort. Schindler is even kept in a comfortable room rather than a cell while he waits for a verdict on his paperwork, demonstrating the vast difference between how Jewish and non-Jewish people are treated in Nazi-occupied Poland.
Themes
The next morning, the auditor tells Schindler that after a quick look at Schindler’s records, it was determined that he stood high in the opinion of some influential people and that he was needed for the war effort. Schindler is free, but he believes it may only be temporary.
Even though Schindler’s personal and business connections are able to get him out of trouble, he knows that his position remains precarious. Even at this early stage, then, Schindler knows that helping Jewish people (by employing skilled Jewish workers in his factory) means putting himself at risk.
Themes
