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
As late as that summer, people in the ghetto are hoping it will remain a small but safe place for Jews to congregate. But by later that year, it becomes clear that the Nazis only intend for the ghettos to be a temporary residence, a “walled bus stop” on the way to something else.
Though anyone who knows World War II history will know what’s coming next: the next “stop” on the figurative bus route is the Nazis’ “Final Solution,” or the genocide of Jewish people. But at this time, the residents of the ghettos have no way of knowing that their situation isn’t permanent. By making the Final Solution a gradual process like this, the Nazis are slowly but effectively brainwashing society into believing that Jewish people are subhuman, and that they deserve to be subjected to increasingly extreme treatment.
Themes
Henry Rosner the violinist gets a job in a Luftwaffe mess hall, where he meets a German chef named Richard. They get along so well that Richard even trusts Henry to pick up the payroll across town.
Once again, Henry Rosner makes an important connection with a German, showing that relationships between Jewish people and Nazis aren’t always as straightforward as they seem.
Themes
Richard eventually offers for Henry’s son, Olek, to stay with his girlfriend. Henry asks if he’s heard about an upcoming Aktion. Richard answers by asking if Henry and his wife, Manci, have their Blauschein, a permit that shows they are necessary for the war effort. They do, but Olek doesn’t. Henry agrees to the plan on Olek’s behalf.
At this stage of the war, the Blauschein were vitally important documents for Cracow’s Jewish residents. Jewish people without one would be rounded up and shipped away.
Themes
Between running errands for Schindler, Pfefferberg works as a tutor to the children of Symche Spira, chief of one of the police forces. He expects this work will get him a Blauschein, but he is denied when he goes to get it at a bank. As he leaves the bank, there are German soldiers rounding up Jews without a Blauschein. Pfefferberg is caught and joins the lineup. He gets out with help from a friend who lies and says Pfefferberg is part of the Judenrat.
Pfefferberg is denied his Blauschein the first time because he lacks knowledge of how to game the system—which nearly gets him sent to a concentration camp. This makes it clear that the ability to manipulate the Nazi bureaucracy (as Schindler has been able to do) is a crucial survival tactic.
Themes
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Pfefferberg rushes back to the labor office and charms the receptionists, promising that he has plenty of useful work skills. They call Herr Szepessi, who allows Pfefferberg to get a Blauschein after he claims he isn’t a teacher but in fact a metal polisher. Later that year, Szepessi will be sent to Auschwitz because of his leniency in matters like this.
Szepessi takes pity on Pfefferberg and gives him advice about how to work the system. Unfortunately, the Szepessi will get caught doing things like this, which is how he ends up being sent to Auschwitz. This sort of outcome doesn’t bode well for Schindler, as his efforts to help his Jewish workers could similarly put him at risk.
Themes
