Virtue and Selflessness
Thomas Keneally’s nonfiction novel Schindler’s List is based on the true story of Oskar Schindler, a man known for astonishing acts of generosity. At great personal risk to his own life, Schindler helps over a thousand Jewish people survive the Holocaust during World War II (and helps slow down the German war effort in other ways too). Many of these survivors can’t explain why Schindler would act so selflessly when, before the war, he…
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Anti-Semitism and Dehumanization
Most of the conflict in Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s List, which takes place during the Holocaust, is spurred by anti-Semitism. The Nazi Party made its “Final Solution”—the elimination of Jewish people—a part of its political platform and succeeded in killing millions of Jewish people (and people who belonged to other marginalized groups) through concentration camps, executions, and other brutal methods. In fact, the Holocausts’ atrocities helped define the entire concept of genocide (mass extermination of…
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Power
A central idea in Schindler’s List is power: how it works, who has it, and what its limits are. Viewed from one angle, the power dynamics in the book might seem straightforward: the Nazis have power, and they use it to oppress the Jewish populations of the territories they occupy. But Keneally shows that power is never quite that simple. Supposed hierarchies of command like the Nazis institute do not always reflect the way power…
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Duty
In Schindler’s List, Thomas Keneally writes, “Duty, as so many of their superiors would claim in court, was the SS genius.” As a leading paramilitary arm of the Nazi Party, the SS was brilliant at enforcing compliance in their ranks by appealing to a sense of duty, even when this meant committing atrocities. All of the antagonists in the book, which takes place in Poland during the Holocaust, are on some level motivated by…
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Bureaucracy
One of Oskar Schindler’s greatest talents is understanding how to manipulate bureaucracy. Thomas Keneally describes him as “a great discoverer of unprocurables,” and this is partly because Schindler doesn’t always interact with bureaucrats the way the system intends. Schindler knows, for example, that some useful connections, a little bit of charm, and a well-placed bribe can get him just about anything he desires from the Nazis he interacts with—although not without some risk. Throughout…
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