Schindler’s List

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.