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Emilie Schindler
Helen Hirsch is the Jewish maid of the cruel Płaszów concentration camp leader, Commandant Amon Goeth. Goeth abuses her—she is thin and often sports visible bruises. During a fateful party at Goeth’s villa, Hirsch runs into Oskar Schindler in the kitchen and senses that he is sympathetic to her situation. Out of desperation, she gives Schindler her life’s savings and begs him to help her sister get out of Płaszów safely. Schindler takes the money and reassures her that she just needs to hold on. He tells her Goeth won’t shoot her (though at the time, this is far from certain). Ultimately, Hirsch’s fate is decided when Goeth and Schindler are drinking and playing cards. Schindler bets everything on a chance to win Hirsch and succeeds; though he’s disappointed, Goeth keeps up his end of the deal. Hirsch’s experience shows firsthand how cruel and arbitrary Nazi leadership could be in occupied countries. It also shows the extraordinary luck that often played a role in determining survivors’ fates.
Helen Hirsch/Lena Quotes in Schindler’s List
The Schindler’s List quotes below are all either spoken by Helen Hirsch/Lena or refer to Helen Hirsch/Lena. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Prologue Quotes
Not to stretch belief so early, the story begins with a quotidian act of kindness—a kiss, a soft voice, a bar of chocolate. Helen Hirsch would never see her 4,000 złoty again-not in a form in which they could be counted and held in the hand. But to this day she considers it a matter of small importance that Oskar was so inexact with sums of money.
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Chapter 22 Quotes
The first morning Commandant Goeth stepped out his front door and murdered a prisoner at random, there was a tendency to see this also, like the first execution on Chujowa Górka, as a unique event, discrete from what would become the customary life of the camp. In fact, of course, the killings on the hill would soon prove to be habitual, and so would Amon’s morning routine.
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Helen Hirsch/Lena Character Timeline in Schindler’s List
The timeline below shows where the character Helen Hirsch/Lena appears in Schindler’s List. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...Pfefferberg is also headed to the villa that evening. Goeth frequently abuses his Jewish maid, Helen Hirsch, who used to be a student under Pfefferberg.
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At dinner, Goeth introduces his maid, Lena, to the crowd. She has visible bruises on her and is Jewish (although Goeth doesn’t...
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Lena’s real name is Helen Hirsch. When she sees Schindler in the kitchen, she is frightened...
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Helen tells Schindler about all the ways Goeth beats her, and Schindler tells her to just...
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...camps will always keep some Jews for labor. This is why he advises people like Helen Hirsch to keep their health—because he believes the Nazis are most likely to kill people...
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Chapter 30
...that matter, Schindler plays blackjack with Goeth. Schindler wins some money on the early hands. Helen Hirsch comes in with coffee. Despite Schindler’s earlier promise to save her, he hasn’t made...
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...a maid in Moravia and hints that it’s hard to find one as skilled as Hirsch. Schindler offers one hand, double or nothing—if he loses, he’ll pay double what Goeth owes...
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Chapter 31
The investigators question Hirsch several times, believing at first that she must have some involvement with Goeth’s black market...
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Schindler draws up and delivers his initial list, which has over a thousand names, including Helen Hirsch. Schindler talks to Titsch, hoping Titsch will be able to convince Madritsch to do...
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Epilogue
When Goeth is captured by General Patton’s army, he foolishly considers calling both Helen Hirsch and Oskar Schindler as witnesses to his character at the trial, although he doesn’t....
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