Steven Spielberg’s wartime masterpiece didn’t have time to tell the full stories behind some of the real historical figures it depicts.
Summary
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schindler’s list
is a film that depicts the true story of Oskar Schindler and how he saved more than 1,200 Jews from Nazi execution in World War II. -
The film faithfully portrays real historical figures such as Amon Göth, the sadistic commandant of the Płaszów labor camp, and Itzhak Stern, the Jewish accountant and close friend of Schindler.
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Real-life figures depicted in the film, such as Emilie Schindler and Leo Rosner, played important roles in supporting and assisting Schindler in his mission to save Jewish lives.
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schindler’s list it portrays many real historical figures within its narrative, but does not tell the full story of its entire cast of characters. The film depicts the true story of how German industrialist Oskar Schindler rescued 1,200 Jews from Nazi execution in one of the most moving humanitarian acts during World War II. schindler’s list begins just before the war and follows the eight-year arc in which its titular figure “befriends” the psychopathic Nazi commander Amon Göth and is galvanized into action. He seeks to honor the stories of numerous survivors of the camp, who remember the acts of cruelty, humanity and struggle that made up life in the Płaszów labor camp.
schindler’s list is an adaptation of the 1982 novel Schindler’s Ark by author Thomas Keneally. Although Steven Spielberg spent years trying to pass the project on to other directors, he eventually agreed to direct the film. The result is considered not only one of Steven Spielberg’s best films, but also one of the best films of all time. Lasting more than three hours, schindler’s list is ambitious in scope and manages to depict numerous real-life stories and historical figures, including camp survivors and Nazi officers. However, there are still many stories left untold.
Related: 5 Differences Between Schindler’s List and the Book It’s Based On (And 5 Historical Inaccuracies)
Oscar Schindler
The remarkable true story of Oskar Schindler’s rescue of more than 1,200 Polish Jewish workers is faithfully depicted in schindler’s list. The wealthy Schindler, a registered member of the Nazi party, used his wealth and his German intelligence contacts to compile a list of Jews to work in his factory, saving them from execution. After the events narrated in the film, Schindler and his wife emigrated to Argentina and dedicated themselves to farming. He went bankrupt in 1958 and spent the rest of his years living off aid packages sent by the Jewish families he saved. Liam Neeson earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the title character in schindler’s list.
Amon Göth
Ralph Fiennes also earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Amon Göth in schindler’s list. Historical records confirm that Göth, as commandant of the Płaszów labor camp, was as monstrous as the portrait of him. Göth was a narcissistic, psychopathic and sadistic figure who took full advantage of his position of power in the camps to inflict chilling cruelty on Jewish prisoners. The scene in schindler’s list where he shoots prisoners from the balcony of his villa with a rifle is based on real events. At the end of the war, Göth was accused of war crimes. He was executed by hanging near the former Plaszów camp.
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Itzhak stern
Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern met Oskar Schindler at the beginning of the war, and the two worked closely in running the factory and eventually compiling the list that saved Stern and the rest of his family from execution. Their wartime friendship is faithfully represented in schindler’s list, with Oscar winner Ben Kingsley playing Stern. After the war, Stern settled in Israel, where he became an advocate for greater recognition of Schindler’s work, and even wrote a pamphlet about Schindler’s rescue activities. Schindler and Stern corresponded until Stern’s death in 1969.
Emilia Schindler
Oskar Schindler’s wife Emilie shared her husband’s sense of responsibility toward the brutalized Jewish workers. Emilie sold her jewelry to help buy food, clothing and medicine for the boarding schools. She also helped run a secret sanatorium at the Brünnlitz camp after Schindler’s 1,200 Jews were transported there. After Emilie and Oskar moved to Argentina and the subsequent bankruptcy, Oskar Schindler abandoned his wife and returned to Germany. Emilie lived out her days in Argentina on the farm she and Oskar had bought, but she returned to Germany to spend her final months in 2001. Caroline Goodall plays her in schindler’s listand she also appears herself at the end of the film.
Poldek Pfefferberg
Behind the scenes of schindler’s list, the real Poldek Pfefferberg was a very important figure in the film, although his character only appears in a supporting role, played by actor Jonathan Sagall. Pfefferberg was a close friend of Oskar Schindler and helped him obtain goods on the black market in Krakow during wartime. As one of the 1,200 Jews Schindler saved, Pfefferebrg felt a responsibility to tell Schindler’s story. After moving to Los Angeles and changing his name to Leopold Page, Pfefferberg spent years lobbying Hollywood to make a film about Oskar Schindler’s work, without success.
One day, Thomas Keneally walked into Pfefferberg’s leather goods store and Pfefferberg was able to convince the author to write a book about Schindler (via The New York City Times). Once the book was written, Pfefferberg worked tirelessly to try to convince Steven Spielberg to direct it. He claims to have called the principal once a week for 11 years. Eventually, Spielberg agreed and Pfefferberg was brought on board. schindler’s list as a consultant. In his acceptance speech for the Best Director Oscar, Spielberg thanked Pfefferberg, saying: “He has brought the story of Oskar Schindler to all of us.“
Leo Rosner
The Jewish musician Leo Rosner was forced to play the accordion for Amon Göth while he was interned in Płaszów. It was a tense affair for the volatile Göth, who could have torn apart and killed Rosner at any moment. Eventually, he and his family were placed on Oskar Schindler’s list and put to work in his Brünnlitz factory. In the film, he is played by Pior Polk. After the war, Rosner moved to Melbourne, Australia, where he founded a 12-piece band and became a well-known musician. The real Rosner appears in schindler’s listEpilogue to pay tribute to Oskar Schindler’s tomb in Jerusalem.
Related: Every Steven Spielberg Movie Based on True Events, Ranked
Mietek Pemper
Mietek Pemper was a Płaszów survivor who became close to Itzhak Stern and eventually Oskar Schindler. As Amon Göth’s personal secretary, it was Pemper who first alerted Schindler that he needed to start producing munitions to prevent his factory from being closed. Pemper was an important collaborator in developing the list. While many of Pemper’s recorded actions are attributed to Stern in the film, the Pemper character plays a limited role, played by Grzegorz Kwas. Pemper testified against Göth at his 1946 trial and became an interfaith activist, specializing in Jewish-Christian relations. He also served as a consultant on schindler’s list.
Joseph Bau
Due to Joseph Bau’s graphic design training, he was put to work writing German posters and maps while imprisoned in Płaszów, although he also used his skills to forge documents and identity cards for use in escape attempts. schindler’s list It dramatizes his covert wedding to fellow prisoner Rebecca Bau, while the two were still interned in Płaszów. After the war, Joseph and Rebecca moved to Israel, where he became an accomplished artist and author. Bau also made several animated films, in which he is credited (via The Guardian) As the “founder of Israel’s animation industry.Bau is played by Rami Heuberger in schindler’s list.
Diana Reiter
The brutal scene of schindler’s list In which Amon Göth executes a Jewish engineer for an argument over the foundations of the barracks, it is tragically based on real events. The murdered woman was Diana Reiter, a Polish architect whose career had seen her design multiple buildings and work on the restoration of others in and around Krakow. The scene in which Elina Löwensohn plays Reiter is just one of many cases recounted by survivors of Amon Göth’s merciless violence.
Related: What the girl in the red coat represents on Schindler’s List
Dr. Josef Mengele
A chilling scene in schindler’s list features a soft-spoken Nazi strolling through a row of gathered Jewish women and asking polite questions like “How old are you, grandmother? The figure in question is the famous Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, played by Daniel Del Ponte. The scene depicts Mengele’s practice of recruiting unwilling Jewish subjects for his monstrous experiments. After the war, the doctor fled to Argentina, where he lived for 30 years before suffering an accidental death by drowning while swimming off the coast of Bertioga.
Joseph Leipold
In 1944, Oskar Schindler successfully transferred the 1,200 Jews to a new factory in the Brünnlitz labor camp in occupied Czechoslovakia. The commander of Brünnlitz was Josef Liepold. schindler’s list, in which Liepold is played by Lugor Pistor, details how Schindler made it clear to him and his SS cohort that Brünnlitz was not to be run as a standard SS labor camp. Schindler asked the SS not to make contact with the workers or allow them to enter the factory. Liepold deserted in May 1945 amid the approach of the Red Army, before being captured and executed for war crimes in 1949.
Sources: New York Times, The Guardian