Getting to know Oskar Schindler...Please read the contents of this page thoroughly (click here). Post your initial thoughts, reactions, and feelings regarding the film review and the memoir excerpt. Posts must be 5-7 sentences in length. Reply to an original post in 2-3 sentences.
38 Comments
Dirty Curty
2/23/2018 04:58:47 am
Its still crazy to me that all of these people kept strong through these struggles. I think that goes to show the religion and how strong it is. For all these people to stay strong through everything. The familys that were torn apart, beaten and starved to death. Yet, they fought to the bitter cold end. The jews did amazing things during the holocaust when there seemed to be no end in sight yet they saw the light at the end of the tunnel.
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isaiah
2/23/2018 05:45:24 am
I agree, its amazing that these people can overcome these situations. These people get punished and tortured for most of their life and they still have more hope than anyone i know.
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Justin
2/23/2018 05:04:37 am
From reading this, it seemed like Poland was constantly changing. It also seemed that Oskar was either popular or charismatic. From this, he must've become so drowned in his own self-importance that he won't listen to his wife's warnings. By the time he did listen, it was already too late. War had already done most of its work.
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Isaiah Miller
2/23/2018 05:16:39 am
My initial thoughts about this was that I couldn't believe he got bullied because he was jewish. The whole part of learning history in high school, is so we don't repeat the past. Yet these kids that bullied him were practically repeating part of history. We shouldn't judge people based on what they look like or what they believe in. I couldn't believe that people these high school students would treat him like it.
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Madisyn Crusan
2/23/2018 05:19:56 am
It is hard for me believe that these things actually happened to people. It makes me very, very thankful for what I have right now. He was losing his wife through this whole situation and leaving her to try to survive on her own. Emilie was an abandoned woman herself. Her choices were limited, by hope and by the war time came, poverty and horror.
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Justin
2/23/2018 05:49:40 am
I agree, it wasn't easy for her. Especially when Oskar apparently refused to listen.
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Elle Dyer
2/23/2018 05:22:38 am
When Spielberg decided to make a film based on the holocaust, it was one of the riskiest things he has done in his career. Oskar wanted to keep his factory open during the war, but in the end he was saving innocent lives. He tried to keep his jewish workers safe and able to work so his factory would stay open. People still have controversy about this movie, and especially recently because a german skater used their music in the olympics.
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Felicia Groot
2/23/2018 05:30:26 am
I also took note of Spielberg's risk in making a movie based on the holocaust. I also took note that he was nervous to even produce this movie, that he waited a few years until he was older to commit to the movie. I think he did the right thing by bringing attention to the Holocaust.
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Gina Bono
2/23/2018 05:31:08 am
I agree that by making the movie it could have caused a lot of controversy. In the end the story needed to be told. I think it is really interesting that by wanting to help himself with his factory he changed and wanted to help other people. I want to know more about the German skater and what her intentions were.
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Gina Bono
2/23/2018 05:26:32 am
Since I have watched the movie many times I already know everything that happens. It was nice to be able to read from a different person's point of view. What made it even better was the fact that it was someone so close to Schindler. I thought it was really interesting to see what lead up to Schindler helping everyone. Something that really shocked me was the fact that Schindler made his connections to the Nazi leaders stronger while he was doing all of this.
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Madisyn Crusan
2/25/2018 08:17:16 pm
I thought the same. Reading it from someone else's point of view was interesting and made me see it in a different view. Reading a book that was very similar to what Schindler did was really cool and I was able to connect many of things together between these two books.
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Felicia Groot
2/23/2018 05:27:08 am
From reading The New York Times review, it's clear to see that just like Elie Wiesel, Spielberg was nervous, at first, to release anything concerning the Holocaust because of what people might think of Spielberg. I feel like Night was the first big book to speak up of what the Germans were really doing to Jews and Schindler's List is the first big movie to draw attention to the Holocaust. Based on the review, taking on Schindler's List was a huge step for Spielberg. Emilie Schindler's memoir is interesting. She wrote about the bombings she experienced, which in my opinion, really helps the reader see what she is seeing. She explains how brutal the bombings were and how much damage they caused. Secondly, she discusses that even talking to a Jewish girl could get her in trouble, but she felt she had to help her. The Schindler's risked their lives and freedom to help the Jewish keep their lives.
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elaina siver
2/23/2018 05:35:43 am
It is hard for me to read stories like this because it is sickening. Emilie's piece is very eye opening because a lot of people don't understand how extraneous these acts actually were. I cannot imagine the trauma these people have felt and continue to feel.
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Olivia DeShane
2/23/2018 05:39:44 am
I agree with Elaina. I can only imagine what Emilie experienced in this time, through the covering up of her husband's actions. Reading her account of the situation was eye-opening and very interesting to learn about.
Elle Dyer
2/23/2018 05:39:19 am
I also noted that Spielberg was hesitant to produce this movie and draw attention to the Holocaust. I think that it is good and important that he did because he should draw attention to the things that happened during this time period.
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Shelbey Farr
2/23/2018 05:41:20 am
My first impressions of reading the memoir by Emilie Schindler, was that Oskar was by no means a man with good morals. But after hearing your thoughts, I do very much agree that the Schindler's did a remarkable thing, that no one during this time would even consider doing. They weren't bystanders but instead rescuers, and that is truly inspiring and uplifting. Even though we know that millions died in the Holocaust through reading "Night" and other articles, knowing that the Schindler's risked their lives to save some Jews (even when they weren't jews) makes me glad that not everyone was a bystander in the Holocaust.
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Elaina Siver
2/23/2018 05:29:33 am
After reading this piece of writing, I am curious to see how the movie will be. It was very hard for Okara to write the story and talk about his experiences. He saved thousands of people, risking his own life. It disgusts me to know that people were forced to do as the Germans said. It is nice to hear that there were some Germans that weren't so sick minded.
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Ethan Mickey
2/23/2018 05:30:10 am
It's crazy to think that for the entire history of the Jewish religion it has always been persecuted in a horrible way. Despite all of the negative things the people still look to the religion as hope all the time. For the article it's crazy how he was bullied just because he was Jewish and nothing else. This just shows that history was just repeating itself in a way of discrimination towards the Jewish religion yet again. Do people not see that if we keep repeating history then it will just be the same again?
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Caitlin Dahlin
2/23/2018 05:38:50 am
This is a very interesting comment and I agree with it full heartedly. It's so sad that in small ways, history is repeating itself. But at the same time, we need to fight to make sure that none of this happens again. Good information!
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Lauren Bockheim
2/23/2018 05:42:02 am
I agree. And I was wondering the same question as to if people keep on repeating what happened in the past, it's never going to stop and it's going to be just how it was back then.
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Olivia DeShane
2/23/2018 05:31:01 am
I, too, have seen this movie a multitude of times. Though it was interesting to hear the stories of how it came about and what inspired the movie. It obviously was a tough topic to tackle and portray to the world and he executed this with class and respect to all cultures. This movie gave me insight on the topic as a whole and Schindler's remarkable story, but hearing about Spielberg's path to creating it was interesting.
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Kameron Rasmussen
2/23/2018 05:31:55 am
When I Read the review I was very surprised. She said her husband "was not a hero" but to others he was. He believed it's what he had to do. He is so humble over it where most people would take advantage of the opportunity. While reading it I was also surprised that Oscar could change from being an SS member to a rebel.
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Noah Lucas
2/23/2018 05:46:21 am
I do agree with you Kam, how she didn't believe in what her husband did. Then how he truly did act like it wasn't that big of a deal, because how humble he was. Like he acted like that's what people should do to help others out that are struggling.
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Noah w
2/23/2018 05:34:27 am
tś crazy to actually think this stuff happened to human beings just because of their own race. Like get to know people, iḿ positive some good people died just because theyŕe jewish. Just like this kid who was bullied because heś jewish. Also i do believe if this keeps happening history will repeat its self. Just knowing that there are still people out there that discriminate just because of race is crazy.
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Caitlin Dahlin
2/23/2018 05:35:58 am
My initial thoughts, reactions, and feelings were that in no way was Schindler a saint in the beginning (as the movie review suggests). Oskar didn't start helping people until he fully realizes the extent of the horror of what is occurring behind the walls of concentration camps. I thought that it was so interesting that Steven Spielberg is a jew himself. It seems like it is a haunting and beautiful tribute to the people that were killed. I am happy that the Schindler's didn't realize they were in too far to get out and help Jews.
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Shelbey Farr
2/23/2018 05:36:15 am
I really am disgusted from reading this memoir by Emilie Schindler. Not only was there so much feminism involved in this novel, but so much disrespect from all german officers including her husband Oskar. It bothers me so much how sneaky and disrespectful Oskar treated him woman(s) and how rude all the german officers were in this time period. Besides this, this excerpt really showed me how desperate people were to be saved. Oskar tried to pull strings and negotiated himself into the german army. It also blows my mind how there were "rumors about Auschwitz", and no one did anything to see if those rumors were true or to help people who were in harm's way. This is an example of people being bystanders. Lastly, after reading the reviews of Spielberg's film, Oskar is known to be a hero for saving many jews who were supposedly on his "list of workers". This is inspiring and I hope to find at least a little bit of comfort in watching this film.
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Max Julien
2/23/2018 05:41:43 am
I couldn't put it better Shelbey. Although I feel for these people it would be hard to believe something this cruel about people who were good in the past. Although it would've been hard to believe people should've looked deeper into the rumors and found out about it and put a stop to it. No person deserves to go through anything like the jews went through.
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Alex Carrillo
2/23/2018 05:37:06 am
It's very hard reading these stories. From moving from state to state, getting bullied at school and getting two bloody noses.He was ashamed to be a jew. Being the only family in the neighborhood as jews.It's crazy how he was losing his wife and he decided to leave her so he could make it out All these struggles people go through, it's sad. That's why I'm blessed to have what I have.
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Ely Horling
2/23/2018 05:50:18 am
It seems he had made this movie to overcome what he had been through, and tell the world what actually happened. He was very strong for even writing what had happened because it just reminds him of it ever time he has to talk about it.
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Max Julien
2/23/2018 05:37:29 am
Although his wife does not consider him a hero there is no doubt in my mind that he goes down as one of the greatest heros in all time. Steven Spielberg making this movie with such compassion and heart put into it. He had a background with scientific movies and other ones but he was amazing with this fantastic film. Not wanting all the attention and as humble as he is it gains a lot of respect which is huge with being a movie director. Oskar on the other hand is a true hero for recognizing what was wrong, and finding a solution and saving lives although it put his at risk. A true story that should be heard about a true hero in the eyes of the people is being director by a director who will put his all in the movie, tying his personal matters into it makes it one of the best movies of all time.
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Nickolai TeBos
2/23/2018 05:45:46 am
I think his wife didn't think he was a hero because he was just trying to do the right thing. And Spielberg is doing a great thing spreading Schindler story to a bigger group of people other than the book.
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Nickolai TeBos
2/23/2018 05:37:35 am
The director of the movie Spielberg is a jewish man himself with ties to the holocaust. So this movie was special to him because it is one of the first movies showing the holocaust in this way. While Schindler the man who the movie and book ar made after. He was a Nazi who realized what the nazi party was doing wrong decided to make a change by trying to protect his unpaid workers.
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Lauren Bockheim
2/23/2018 05:38:41 am
It seemed like this was a hard story for him to tell and get out to the world. Its crazy how just because he was Jewish he was bullied. There was so much discrimination toward the Jewish people.The things that people did were crazy, things that you wouldn't expect to happen, do happen.
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Darien Brown
2/23/2018 05:47:48 am
I agree with you. People shouldn't get bullied because of how they were brought up or raised differently. This is unexceptable.
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Darien Brown
2/23/2018 05:43:02 am
Its very messed up how people get bullied about there beliefs. Everyone should be accepted no matter what they believe. I could not image what they went through. The thing is they can't do anything about it.
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Noah Lucas
2/23/2018 05:43:51 am
I find it crazy about how people are able to treat other people so poorly. Like how the kid in this story was bullied so much for being jewish. I couldn't image myself being bullied and ridiculed because of how I have been raised to believe or my way of thinking. But then it is also nice to get to see the different viewpoints of the people. To show the different ways people were able to understand and cope with what is happening.
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Saige Mendoza
2/23/2018 05:43:56 am
Although Schindler's list wasn't as successful as other Steven Spielberg movies due to the attention regarding the Holocaust, it still doesn't hide the unsettling truth about what happened. An example of this from the memoir was when the children that were under age of 14 were executed and experimented on. Many jewish business owners were taken out and put in working camps. Women were afraid to get pregnant because of this awful event. Their children were killed on site if the child was just born. This is honestly very horrible and its very sad for those families that have lost family members because of this.
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Ely Horling
2/23/2018 05:48:13 am
After reading this I think that it was smart of him to bring in some of the people that were in the camps to his work. Even though they were not paid it was smart get them into his work to save them, I think that would have been really hard not to get caught. I give him all the credit because he was so brave for doing so. It must have been hard to even imagine all the people that he did save and wish he could have saved more.
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