Philosophy and Logic

MISNA B. ZURBANO BSECE3B

1100221

CASE ANALYSIS
March 12, 2014

The movie Schindlers list is a compelling, real-life illustration of events that occurred
during World War II. It illustrates the persecution and dreadful killings of the Jewish people. It
also shows the hope and will of the Jews, which certainly is a factor in the continued existence of
their race. The most important factor however is because of the will of one man, Oskar
Schindler, who with his wealth and manipulating abilities helps save the lives of more than a
thousand of Jews during the Holocaust from being terminated by the Nazis.
The movie takes us back to 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and occupied its place.
Their extreme hatred towards the Jews forms one of the themes of the movie. The Nazi soldiers
were ordered to round up the Jewish families, separate the men and the women and move them
to concentration camps. Set in Krakow, Poland, the movie describes the conditions of the Polish
Jews in these camps and their sufferings. The movie centers on how Schindler comes to the
realization that concentration and forced labor camps are wrong, and that many people were
dying through no fault of their own. Schindlers List is not just an account of Oskar Schindler,
but it is the story of how good can overcome evil and how charity can overcome greed.
It all started when Hitler came to power in Germany. Adolf Hitler was a very strong
minded person that liked everything to go his way, and for what he believed in. Darwins theory
had a major influence upon Nazi race policies. Hitler was very determined to prevent Aryans
from mixing with non-Aryans. Their belief was based on the theory of group inequality within
each species, a major presumption of Darwins original survival of the fittest theory. After he
convinced the Germans that the Jews were the center of all problems, he started to make camps
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to place all the Jews. The Nazis planned to murder the Jewish people. The Holocaust was a
devastating time during World War II that changed the lives of many people all over the world. It
was a struggle for Jewish people all over Europe. The mass killings and everyday torture became
part of many adults and childrens lives, along with the starvation, disease, and harsh treatment.
When Jewish people were taken from their ghettos, they were immediately moved to either
concentration camps or death camps, which are the only types of camps during the Holocaust.
Concentration camps were more like labor camps, were prisoners became hard laborers and were
worked and starved to death. Everyone in concentration camps also dressed with the same
stripped jump suit and was forced to wear a band around their arm to indicate the part of the
camp they were from. Death camps were set up specifically for mass murder. The Jewish people
who were deported to death camps were either shot or burned. This tragedy brought death upon
enough people to consider it a mass killing.
While Schindler is enjoying his profits and his status as a loyalist with the Nazi party, he
begins ensuring some protections for his factory workers, all of whom are Polish Jews. By
declaring to the government that these workers are necessary for the greater war effort, Schindler
is preventing them from being imprisoned and taken to concentration camps. This is his true
turning point, and he then determines to save as many Jewish lives as he can. To do this, he must
bribe, and remain his friendship with Amon Goeth, all the while appearing to be only interested
in saving the Jews who are useful to the German war machines. His female workers are all
marked to go to the Auschwitz death camps, but Schindler offers large bribes to save them from
being entered on those trains. The fact that these Jews are to continue factory work is maintained,
as Schindler moves those on his list to an old factory in his home town, away from the threat
of German massacre.
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Schindler had completely contradicted his entire lifes beliefs when he began saving the
Jews and going against his country. Schindler looked deeper into his own human soul and
realized that there was more to life than only pleasure. Schindler decided that since he had the
power, it was also his duty to prolong life. As a result of the risks Schindler took many
generations of Schindler-Jews have since been born. If he had not questioned the crimes of Hitler
and the Nazi party, eleven hundred more people would have been brutally murdered, and
thousands more would never have been born.
Today, he is not just considered as a leader but a heroic leader a hero for more than
7,000 descendants of the Schindler-Jews whom he saved risking all his wealth and his own life.
His list (the Schindlers List) is a testimony to the nobility of his character, strength and courage
that he demonstrated in his life to protect his people and strive towards their well-being the
hallmark of a great leader.

EXTERNAL SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schindler's_List
http://www.creationism.org/csshs/v08n3p24.htm
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-schindlers-list-1993

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