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Oskar Schindler
Itzhak Stern is Oskar Schindler’s Jewish accountant, as well as his constant companion and co-conspirator. Stern is also Schindler’s “confessor,” acting at times as his conscience, and he arguably inspires all of Schindler’s ventures when he quotes Schindler the line from the Talmud about how “he who saves the life of one man saves the world entire.” Stern is a pragmatist who, in the days before Schindler arrives in Cracow, has already started to learn how to navigate the Nazi bureaucracy. Stern starts out as the accountant for Abwehr agent Sepp Aue, who takes over the business where Stern works (which formerly had a Jewish owner). He meets Schindler (who is also working with the Abwehr at the time) when Schindler shows him the balance sheet of a company he’s looking to acquire, the enamelware manufacturer Rekord. From Schindler’s first factory in Cracow (Emalia) to the Brinnlitz camp, Stern manages the logistics of Schindler’s businesses as well as helping to facilitate his real work: secretly rescuing as many Jews as possible from the Holocaust. Despite several setbacks and close calls, Stern helps Oskar lead his Jewish prisoners to the end of the war. Afterwards, Stern becomes one of Schindler’s main advocates, since Schindler’s membership in the Nazi Party makes him vulnerable to arrest after the war.
Itzhak Stern Quotes in Schindler’s List
The Schindler’s List quotes below are all either spoken by Itzhak Stern or refer to Itzhak Stern. 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 2 Quotes
Aue liked Stern’s dry, effective style with the legal evidence. He began to laugh, seeing in the accountant’s lean features the complexities of Cracow itself, the parochial canniness of a small city. Only a local knew the ropes. In the inner office Herr Schindler sat in need of local information.
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Chapter 3 Quotes
Within two minutes the men were chatting like friends. The pistol in Pfefferberg’s belt had now been relegated to the status of armament for some future, remote emergency. There was no doubt that Mrs. Pfefferberg was going to do the Schindler apartment, no expense spared, and when that was settled, Schindler mentioned that Leopold Pfefferberg might like to come around to the apartment to discuss other business. “There is the possibility that you can advise me on acquiring local merchandise,” Herr Schindler said. “For example, your very elegant blue shirt . . . I don’t know where to begin to look for that kind of thing myself.” His ingenuousness was a ploy, but Pfefferberg appreciated it. “The stores, as you know, are empty,” murmured Oskar like a hint.
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Chapter 8 Quotes
Before the Hilos had even been properly calibrated, Oskar began to get hints from his SS contacts at Pomorska Street that there was to be a ghetto for Jews. He mentioned the rumor to Stern, not wanting to arouse alarm. Oh, yes, said Stern, the word was out. Some people were even looking forward to it. We’ll be inside, the enemy will be outside. We can run our own affairs. No one will envy us, no one stone us in the streets. The walls of the ghetto will be fixed. The walls would be the final, fixed form of the catastrophe.
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Itzhak Stern Character Timeline in Schindler’s List
The timeline below shows where the character Itzhak Stern appears in Schindler’s List. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Prologue
...she can trade it. He says he heard about her from a man named Itzhak Stern.
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Chapter 2
...was Jewish. He sends a message to the company accountant, a Polish Jew named Itzhak Stern, asking him to come in and help resolve the issue. Just after sending the message,...
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On the way back from the warehouse, Schindler and Aue meet Itzhak Stern. When Stern informs Schindler that he is Jewish, Schindler doesn’t seem phased and replies that...
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Aue tells Schindler that Stern has good business connections in Cracow. After Aue leaves the room. Schindler tells Stern he’d...
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...a little credit, he can turn the Rekord enamelware factory into a very profitable enterprise. Stern tells him that he should remember he’ll be restricted in who he can employ—the Germans...
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As Schindler and Stern finish their discussion, they talk about the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, a topic that...
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Chapter 4
Stern meets Schindler again in early December. Schindler makes an announcement: “Tomorrow, it’s going to start....
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Chapter 6
When the Einsatzgruppe starts an Aktion on December 4th, Stern realizes that Schindler was trying to warn him, and that he can be trusted.
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...expand. As he’s starting his factory and growing it, at various points in the year, Stern comes by with Jews seeking employment. Within a few months, Schindler has 150 Jewish workers.
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...but it causes several Jews to try to become qualified as skilled workers. Men like Stern look for Germans like Schindler and Madritsch who seem like they can be trusted to...
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Chapter 7
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...
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Later in the evening, Stern tells Schindler about the imprisonment of Marek Biberstein, who had been president of the Judenrat...
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...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...
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Chapter 12
...kisses a girl named Kucharska and is then seen being friendly with Jewish women and Stern. Someone reports him, and he is arrested again on the morning of the 29th by...
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Chapter 20
...other on that level. Goeth even comes to believe that Schindler is a friend. Still, Stern and others later provide evidence that shows Schindler disapproved of Goeth from the moment they...
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Schindler tells Stern about his meeting with Goeth. The factory workers are all worried about what will happen...
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Chapter 23
...to get Rabbi Menasha Levartov (who is posing as a metalworker) sent over to Emalia. Stern in particular had been one of his admirers. He tells Schindler about how, because of...
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...lines and marching one line away to the firing squads. At one point, Goeth asks Stern for 25 skilled metalworkers. Stern includes Levartov in the list of the skilled, which Goeth...
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...Goeth hits him and simply abandons him, but both know that the matter isn’t resolved. Stern tells the whole matter to Schindler, who teases him: “Why the long story? There’s always...
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Chapter 24
...man (sporting a Swiss passport) who goes by Babar. Schindler introduces Sedlacek and Babar to Stern. Stern takes Schindler aside and asks if involving those two men isn’t a huge risk....
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Chapter 26
...camp to Germans, the power goes out, the circuit having been broken by allies of Stern. The general is forced to continue his inspection by flashlight. A myth grows that because...
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...Płaszów because he never had the correct ghetto papers. There he becomes a protégé of Stern’s and attracts attention for his possible skills as a forger.
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Rebecca Tannenbaum, meanwhile, is an orphan who has recently begun to work in Stern’s office. She is also a manicurist who treats Goeth weekly, as well as other prominent...
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Chapter 27
...disposed of. Schindler is depressed by all he sees, but he makes a promise to Stern: “I’m going to get you all out.” Stern questions the word “all,” to which Schindler...
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Chapter 31
...doesn’t realize that his wife and the rest of his family are not on it. Stern has been on the list from the beginning.
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Chapter 33
...well as with a suitcase full of valuable goods, including alcohol, meat, and diamonds. As Stern tells it, Schindler picked one of his secretaries for the job, warning her that Höss...
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...is true that the women have been worn down by their time in Auschwitz. Clara Sternberg is one who gets separated from the main group and ends up in a separate...
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On the very same afternoon that Clara Sternberg considered suicide, she gets word that they are finally being loaded onto trains. Unfortunately, however,...
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Chapter 34
...(when in fact, he’s just ignorant about metalwork). A German supervisor prepares a harsh report. Stern stops some of the reports going out in the mail, though he can’t keep a...
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Finally, Schindler comes back and hears about the situation from Stern. Liepold wants to preside over a hearing and ultimately hang Janek Dresner (along with his...
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Chapter 35
...degrees too cool. Schindler reacts with indignation, and some inspectors even feel sympathy toward him. Stern and Pfefferberg claim Schindler sometimes bought shells from other manufacturers to present as his own...
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Epilogue
The same judge as for Eichmann’s trial presides over an initiative put forward by Stern, Sternberg, and Bejski to announce an official tribute to Schindler. The hearing attracts a large...
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Stern, Sternberg, and Bejski continue to lobby the West German government for a pension to Schindler....
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