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
Goldberg crosses some Emalia people off the list, and at least one of them will blame Schindler for it. A former prisoner will write a letter in 1963 saying he had been promised a place on the list but instead ended up at an extermination camp.
This passages acknowledges that not all former prisoners share positive opinions of Schindler, even if the overwhelming majority do. By including this, the book acknowledges that Schindler wasn’t perfect—yet he was heroic nonetheless.
Themes
Schindler, however, isn’t able to watch Goldberg at every hour because he is dealing with his own problems at the time. He is afraid after the arrest of Goeth that he may end up being arrested too, or at least heavily interrogated because of his close relationship with Goeth. He must also deal with Commandant Hassebroeck, who supervises the camp Gröss-Rosen (and who will have ultimate authority over Schindler’s new camp at Brinnlitz). Fortunately, Hassebroeck sees Schindler’s Brinnlitz camp as a chance to expand his own mini-empire.
The book acknowledges that Schindler perhaps could have been more diligent about supervising the list, but it places the majority of the responsibility for any omissions on Goldberg. Hassebroeck may not be as reckless as Goeth, but he has a similar sense of self-importance that Schindler will learn how to manipulate.
Themes
Goldberg continues to try to get the best offers for placement on the list. One prisoner, Dr. Idek Schindel, won’t know that he and his brothers missed the list until the day they’re rounded up into cattle cars. They try to go to the Schindler line anyway but are caught and sent with a carload of sick women to Auschwitz. Though left to die there, most of them manage to survive.
Dr. Schindel’s case shows how a simple oversight (or perhaps Goldberg’s manipulation) could have disastrous consequences for those affected.
Themes
Even those on the list face difficulties. Henry Rosner lines up with his violin and is pulled aside by an officer who knows Goeth will want music if he gets out of prison. Rosner simply lines up again, however, concealing his violin under his coat.
It’s ironic that Rosner’s musical skill—which once kept him alive and in Goeth’s favor—is almost what prevents him from getting to Brinnlitz. In this sense, appeasing the Nazis can sometimes make a person more of a target.
Themes
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In spite of Goldberg’s interference, Schindler mostly gets the people he wanted to come with him to Brinnlitz. Pfefferberg, accidentally overlooked by Schindler and unable to provide a diamond for Goldberg, gets some unlikely help by appealing to Schreiber, who forces Goldberg to add Pfefferberg’s name.
Though this chapter portrays the darker side of putting together Schindler’s titular list, the final results show that the list was not greatly compromised by any behind-the-scenes dealing.
Themes
The men on Schindler’s list leave Płaszów on Sunday, October 15. It’ll be another week before the women leave. The journey takes three days and is very cold when the doors open. When they arrive, they are shocked and disappointed to find themselves at Gröss-Rosen, being asked to strip so they can be disinfected. They find themselves exposed to the elements overnight, for 17 freezing hours, although none of the survivors remember any deaths.
Though the prisoners trust Schindler, when they are loaded up into a cattle car, they have no way of knowing where they’re headed. There is still ample opportunity for interference, particularly since Schindler won’t be traveling with them.
Themes
Finally, the prisoners are taken to showers, issued striped uniforms, and crowded into barracks. On the second day in the camp, an SS officer approaches Goldberg, saying that Schindler’s list hasn’t come in from Płaszów. Goldberg has to re-create the whole thing from memory. This provides an opportunity for Pemper (and others) to pressure Goldberg to include Dr. Alexander Biberstein on the list (brother of former Cracow Judenrat president Marek Biberstein. Goldberg had earlier told Dr. Biberstein he was on the list, only for him to find out on October 15th that he wasn’t.
As many prisoners feared, the journey to Schindler’s new factory is not a simple one. The inclusion of Dr. Alexander Biberstein on the list reflects how many Jewish prisoners still hold a high opinion of how the Judenrat operated in Cracow (since Alexander is the brother of former president Marek), despite some of their controversial decisions.
Themes
On the third day in camp, the approximately 800 men on the revised version of Schindler’s list are taken to a delousing station, then packed back up into cattle cars, unsure exactly where they’re heading. Two days later, they find themselves at the Zwittau depot. Early in the morning, they are marched through a town that seems to be frozen in a pre-war time. At last, they reach the factory at Brinnlitz, where they are greeted by Schindler in a Tyrolean hat.
Schindler’s Tyrolean hat (a traditional hat worn in the Alps) recalls an older, perhaps happier era of German history. Meanwhile, even as the prisoners are bound for a camp where they will ostensibly be treated humanely and kept safe, they are still dehumanized and essentially treated like livestock throughout the journey.
Themes
