Oskar Schindler

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorHigh School, 10th grade October 2001

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A GOOD MAN? Is Oscar Schindler a good man? Before beginning the movie, I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that a member of the Nazi party would be anything but a monster. However, after watching "Schindlers List" I have come to the conclusion that Schindler deserves admiration and is nothing less than a good man. Initially, I stood by my original assessment of Schindler being a monster. He was completely self-serving. He moved away from his wife during a time of complete horror, to start up a plant in Krakow. While there he was unfaithful to his wife and when she caught him he simply swooned his way back into the good books. He benefited from the misfortune of the Jewish people. He obtained free, unpaid labor from the Jewish people. When the Jews were cleared out of the ghettos and sent to Amon Goeths labor camp he was only concerned about losing money.

When visiting Goeth he said "My people. I want my people"¦ They're mine! Every day that goes by, I'm losing money." He is concerned only for himself. He doesn't give a second thought to what "his people" are enduring. Only profit motivates him. When Schindlers accountant, Itzhak Stern is on a train going to Auschwitz Oscar goes to save him. He doesn't save him because they are friends, or for the fact that it is wrong that the Jews are being sent to Auschwitz, he saves him in order to ensure he is successful in running his plant and he needs Stern to be successful. When a one-armed elderly man who worked at his plant is shot, he wants compensation. He doesn't care about the man, only the money. At this point Schindler appears to be an amoral man.

However, as the...