Schindler’s List: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Some Jews, like the musicians the Rosner brothers, move to a Polish village called Tyniec. They continue to play music, and at one point they play for a rich party that includes Nazis. Afterwards, a middle-aged SS officer approaches them and says, “I hope you have a nice harvest holiday.” They realize this is a threat. They decide the best option is to return to Cracow.

Meanwhile, Emilie goes back home, and the next time Stern visits Schindler, Ingrid is back. Stern tells Schindler that stories are going around about him being a “German gangster.” Schindler assures them that this is just a business rivalry and argues that he’s the one who’s being taken advantage of.

Later in the evening, Stern tells Schindler about the imprisonment of Marek Biberstein, who had been president of the Judenrat until his arrest. Biberstein had tried to be a buffer between the Germans and the local Jews. Eventually, the Judenrat started letting the wealthy buy their way off forced-labor lists, but even still, they were better regarded than the Judenrat in many other cities.

Initially, the Judenrat is made up of 24 men, primarily intellectuals. As the leader, Biberstein believes that Jews expelled from Cracow will be worse off, so he uses bribery to try to prevent this as much as possible. In particular he bribes a man named Reichert, who has contacts in the SS. Eventually, the scheme is found out, and both Biberstein and Reichert are jailed. Schindler says Reichert is a crook, but Stern replies that at sometimes, the only option left is to do business with crooks, which amuses Schindler.