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
It’s the fall of 1943. Oskar Schindler, wearing an expensive suit with a swastika on it, emerges from his apartment in Cracow, where his chauffeur is waiting for him with a limo. Schindler is an industrialist, and he’s not “virtuous” in the conventional definition of the word: he lives with a German mistress and is having an affair with his Polish secretary, while his wife Emilie lives back in Moravia. Schindler is also a heavy drinker and a chain smoker.
The book begins by showing how Oskar Schindler would look to an outside observer. The book is set in 1943 in Cracow, Poland during World War II, and given Schindler’s Nazi insignia, it seems that he has some sort of affiliation with the Nazi Party. Indeed, with his lavish lifestyle and his swastika-adorned jacket, as well as with his womanizing tendencies, he seems an unlikely candidate to be a hero.
Themes
Schindler is headed to a dinner at the villa of Commandant Amon Goeth, who runs a local concentration camp. Schindler, however, isn’t looking forward to the dinner. A prisoner at the camp named Poldek 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.
The dinner party shows the dynamics of the Płaszów concentration camp, with camp leaders and wealthy German industrialists living a decadent lifestyle, while Jewish prisoners are forced into subservient positions.
Themes
At the villa, Schindler sees the Jewish brothers Henry and Leo Rosner playing music, Henry on the violin and Leo on accordion. Seated at Goeth’s table are some Nazis, including Julian Scherner (head of the SS for Cracow) and Rolf Czurda (chief of a security branch in Cracow). The oldest at the table is Franz Bosch, a WWI veteran who acts as an “economic adviser” for Scherner and who is involved in various legal and illegal business activities in the Płaszów concentration camp.
Anti-Semitism is not as simple as pure hatred; even though Amon Goeth hates Jewish people, he appreciates Henry and Leo Rosner’s music. Additionally, Nazis like Scherner, Czurda, and Bosch may follow the party line on some issues, but they also won’t hesitate to do something against protocol if they think they can benefit from it.
Themes
Schindler doesn’t like Bosch, Scherner, or Czurda, but he needs their cooperation to keep his plant in Zablocie running, so he sends them gifts. Schindler does have some affection for two other guests, however: Julius Madritsch and Raimund Titsch. Madritsch owns a uniform factory inside the Płaszów camp, and Titsch is his manager. The factory is one of the more humane ones in the camp, with Titsch smuggling in food from outside for the prisoners. Four Cracow women who appear to be expensive prostitutes are at the dinner because Goeth’s German mistress, Majola, is staying in the city at her apartment.
The Germans at the party are not all the same: in fact, there are other humane men like Schindler who are not as famous in history, such as Madritsch and Titsch. These men are caught in a moral gray area, unwilling to act as cruelly as men like Amon Goeth but also unable to avoid dealing with Nazis, both for their own protection and for the protection of their Jewish prisoners.
Themes
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Goeth and the police chiefs (Czurda and Scherner) like Schindler, although they find him unusual. They blame it on him being from a more rural part of Germany. They welcome him and introduce him to the women. Before dinner, they make small talk about business and the war.
Schindler demonstrates his remarkable ability to make himself likable, even to men that he himself finds disagreeable.
Themes
As they’re heading to the dinner table, Bosch pulls Schindler aside and remarks, “Business good, I see.” He asks if Schindler might be able to make a generous gesture. He claims his aunt has been bombed out and lost all of her possessions and asks if it would be possible to get some kitchenware for her. Schindler owes a debt because the Scherner’s office has already gotten him out of jail twice. He asks if the goods should go directly to Bosch’s aunt or if he should send them to Bosch first, and Bosch says to send them to him. He asks for so much that Schindler jokes that his aunt must run an orphanage. Schindler says his Polish secretary will take care of it.
Neither Bosch nor Schindler have any illusions about what Bosch’s request really means: he is clearly asking for a bribe. Such clandestine deals were common in Nazi-occupied Poland, where the black market thrived—although those who got caught could face severe consequences.
Themes
Bosch remarks that Schindler’s wife must be a saint to let him keep such an attractive secretary. Schindler brushes him off, saying he doesn’t discuss private matters.
Schindler’s reluctance to talk about his wife may be a symptom of guilt. Though he makes no effort to hide his affairs, he does seem to realize that he doesn’t act like the husband his wife wishes he was.
Themes
At dinner, Goeth introduces his maid, Lena, to the crowd. She has visible bruises on her and is Jewish (although Goeth doesn’t have her wear a star). He beats her in particular whenever he is reminded of her Jewishness.
Goeth’s relationship with Helen Hirsch (a.k.a. Lena) shows again that anti-Semitism isn’t as simple as pure hatred. Though he is a cruel, abusive man, he also seems to depend on Hirsch in a way—and perhaps that is what makes him angry enough to beat her.
Themes
One of the Cracow women asks if Schindler is a soldier says that he’d look good in a uniform. Bosch and Goeth recall that they heard of an industrialist even more successful than Schindler who was forced to serve on the front lines.
Many characters comment on Schindler’s handsomeness throughout the novel. Bosch and Goeth warn him, however, that even a handsome, successful man is capable of being taken down if he doesn’t pay proper respect to those above him.
Themes
Pfefferberg and an orderly named Lisiek are upstairs cleaning Goeth’s bathroom. Madritsch and Titsch drink coffee quickly and leave, with Schindler ready to follow soon after. Though he sometimes has affairs, Schindler doesn’t want to have sex at Goeth’s place (which the other guests will do once they take the Cracow women upstairs).
The fact that Madritsch and Titsch leave the party early suggests that they don’t buy into Nazi ideology as much as the other guests in attendance. And given that Schindler plans to do the same, the reader can infer that he is similarly critical of the Nazis.
Themes
Schindler heads out, and in the bathroom, Pfefferberg and Lisiek overhear Goeth bringing a girl to his bedroom earlier than expected. They try to get out unnoticed, but Goeth spots them and shouts at them. A few days later, Amon Goeth shoots Lisiek dead, although it ends up being for something else: Lisiek harnesses a horse and buggy for Bosch without checking with Goeth first.
Lisiek’s fate illustrates not only how cruel Goeth is as a camp commandant but also how arbitrary his punishments can be. Whereas he treats some Jewish people (like the Rosner brothers) with a modicum of respect, he treats Lisiek as subhuman and ultimately expendable.
Themes
Lena’s real name is Helen Hirsch. When she sees Schindler in the kitchen, she is frightened and greets him deferentially. Schindler says she doesn’t have to report to him. He kisses her on the forehead, the way Polish people say goodbye at train stations. He gives her a candy bar and says if she doesn’t want to eat it, she can trade it. He says he heard about her from a man named Itzhak Stern.
When Schindler left alone with Hirsch, he reveals his true character. He is much kinder and more thoughtful when he doesn’t have to watch out for the scrutiny of men like Goeth. The candy bar is one of many small acts of generosity Schindler makes that have outsize impacts on the gifts’ recipients.
Themes
Helen tells Schindler about all the ways Goeth beats her, and Schindler tells her to just try to keep her health. He wants to get her out. He tells her about his enamelware factory, which Helen has heard of—it’s referred to as “Schindler’s Emalia.” She mentions her sister in a camp kitchen and offers Schindler some money that she’s hid in the kitchen in case he ever has the opportunity to buy her sister back.
Despite her desperate situation, Hirsch thinks of her sister before thinking of herself, which demonstrates her selflessness. Schindler accepts her money not because he needs it, but because he knows it’ll just get confiscated if Goeth finds it, and he figures the money is better off with him.
Themes
Because of his close business relationships with Nazis, Schindler knows earlier than most about the gassing of Jews in concentration camps. He knows the worst is yet to come, but he believes that the 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 who can’t work. Hirsch never does get paid back for the money she gave to Schindler, but she doesn’t consider this a big deal, given everything else that Schindler will do.
Schindler likes to make big promises, but it isn’t always clear if he’ll be able to fulfill them. At the time, it doesn’t seem like he can really promise salvation to Hirsch, even if she does manage to keep her health. Still, this passage implies that Schindler will find a way to make most of his promises come true—likely through a combination of both cunning and sheer luck.
Themes
