The ending scene where Oskar starts to view items in his possession as people he could've saved is a really sad scene, and you start to think about how much he should've or could have given up just to save a few more lives. Oskar was considered a very kind man because he had saved so many Jewish  people, but he could have saved lives in exchanges for mere objects. Does this outweigh his saving of lives? How many people need to be saved or wealth spent makes what a person has done truly heroic? Oskar chose to hire Jews at first simply because they were cheaper. What about other cultural groups targeted by the Nazis? Should he have tried to save them? Besides, Oskar should never have been put in that situation, but there was little he could do to stop his neighbors from gathering up Jews and putting them in concentration camps. Hiding the Jews in his factory was extremely risky and brave, because turning against the the Nazi party and the idea of German nationalism would get him killed by the Germans. However, the Jews that he aided ended up helping clear his name after the allies achieve victory in Europe.

The moments that stuck out to me the most, were definitely how the Nazi party treated all of the Jews. The brutality they had to face was unimaginable and unfair. They never even gave the people a chance to prove that they were good people and could contribute greatly to society. Also, when the girl was yelling "Goodbye Jews" on the sidewalk, she was against them and was not taught to respect all people. No one did respect the Jews, and they were treated with inferiority. The soldiers killed the Jews by just shooting them for no reason, but at least it was quick and painless, so they weren't suffering. In the beginning of the movie, Oscar Schindler is  a man that does not respect the Jews, but near the end, he is mad at himself for not helping them, which I am glad he finally realized. Unfortunately, nothing could be done because so many were already dead.

Lauren Ramlan Movie response

I have learned about the holocaust before and how horrific it was, but I never really thought about being in the position of some people. Watching Shindlers list made me realize that people truly went through this. The woke up everyday and suffered through these horrible crimes. This movie made me feel truly blessed to be where I am. I can never truly imagine walking up every day starving and being put to work with the constant fear of being murdered at random. This movie really hit he hard and made me realize how thankful a I am to live the lif I'm living

I have learned about the holocaust before and how horrific it was, but it seemed so horrible it seemed unreal. Watching this movie put the thought into my head that people truly went through this. They woke up everyday in these horrible places and experienced this apauling crimes. It hit me really hard to think about how blessed I am to have my life and not be walking up in such a horrific place. I also thought the scene where Oscar was looking at his belongings and thinking about who he could have saved. That was really sad to think about how instead of buying a car or a suit, he could have saved another 15 people. This movie really made me realize the absolutely atrocious things that happened and made me feel so happy that I never had to go through something like that.

      The scene at the end of the movie where Schindler begins to see every item in his possession as lives that could have been saved was striking. It goes to show what a terrible thing the Nazis were doing, where Schindler looked at a pen, and saw it as a Jewish life that could have been saved. Even though he directly saved hundreds of lives, it haunted him that he could have saved more. The scene also illustrates how insignificant Jewish lives were to the Nazis, where a pen was equivalent to one single life.

The thing that stood out to me most in the film, Schindler's List is the violence and how it was portrayed. The movie successfully enticed a sense of reality and fear as well as a perception that the audience was actually there inside the concentration camps. Throughout the movie, countless acts of unbelievable brutal violence was inflicted upon many of the captive Jews; I was surprised at how feelingless each Nazi solider or guard looked when they would kill or mutilate a person. Especially Amon Goeth, who randomly shot, beat and tortured countless people that never inflicted anything upon him. I think it's terrible when people like him, who have no value of human life and enjoy the suffering of others, get into a powerful position in which they are allowed to do whatever they want. The depiction of the violence was clear and brutal, I still can't wrap my head around how people actually administered that kind of destruction in real life and history.         

I was baffled by how much of a good man Oskar Shindler came out to be. At first, he was a proud Nazi, only looking for money, squeezing it out of the Jews in his factory. But as the story unfolds, he realizes the pain and suffering the Nazis have caused. He changes his ways, and takes in as many Jews as he can, to save them. And at the final scene, he is being hard on himself for not selling everything he owns to save more innocent lives. Shindler showed the world that people really can change, and I beleive that was the lesson of the whole story.

The thing that stood out to me the most was the shear brutality and violences from the Nazi officers. Everyone who as ever learned about the Holocaust know that they were not nice people, but the movie really gives good examples of it. Almost all of the people killed in the movie had done nothing wrong and had no reason to be killed. Another thing that stood out was the fact the Oscar Schindler was part of the Nazi party. This just shows that not everyone agreed with Hitler's plans.

What stood out to me the most was how the Nazi's did not seem to consider the workers as humans, they were almost like machines to the Nazis and if they made any error or did anything outside of what they were told to, they would be killed and forgotten. The scene where the Nazis decide to shoot one man who did not produce enough of whatever he was manufacturing but their gun does not work is a perfect example. They find out he has been working all day since about six in the morning and ask him why he has not been able to produce a satisfactory amount. Then while the man is on the ground begging for his life, the Nazi hurls his gun at the man in frustration and walks away. No other factors exist in his mind other than: this has been happening this long, so the result should be at least this. This scene demonstrates the two biggest points, there is no appealing to logic as the man must have been exhausted, and there is no appeal to emotion, as the man is begging at the feet of the Nazis for his life. The Nazis almost seem to see it as their guns is the tool given to them to govern the country, and so they are expected to use it to accomplish whatever they need to.

Brutality and Violence

I think what struck me the most in the film Schindlers List was how the German soilders were portrayed. Before I even watched the film, I new about the brutalllity that the Jews were faced with, but what I did not notice how two sided the German soilders were. For example, a German soilders "normal day" at a concentration camp would be killing acouple innocent Jews and then strolling over to a German party. Amon Goeth, the man in charge of the Krakow camp, was shown numerous times in the movie killing Jews for no reason. On the other hand most German soilders had normal lives before entering the war. Meaning that they had a family, wife and kids. But, once they got into the war there demeanor and cause for justice completely changed. However near the end of the movie the violence steadily declined.

I was really moved by the film. What struck me the most about it was how the film portrayed the gruesome reality of the holocaust and did not shy away from the horrors of it. Most other films that clover the event will not display such graphic pictures. It was really shocking

The thing that stood out the most to me in Schindler's list was the carelessness of the Nazi Officer's brutality. An example of this was Amon Goeth's casual attitude as he killed innocent humans in the morning. It was even worse that he didn't even stop to think after, he just proceeded with his morning rituals.

Schindler's List excelled very well at representing the variety of people that lived during WWII. I was shocked and horrified by the brutality that had occurred in that time. It is appaling to know how people like the Nazis can be so ruthless and to know that Amon Goeth was a real person. He committed such inhuman acts such as killing people as a morning activity and beating his Jewish maid, Helen Hirsch, because he was the one who had feelings for her. Goeth and the Nazis made me question if they could ever become 'normal'  because they were just so brainwashed with the idea that they were superior and had authrority over Jews.
Oskar Schindler was the opposite of Amon Goeth. In the beginning of the movie, his only intentions were to get money and power. He succeeded in gaining the trust of some of the highest rank Nazi officers which later helped him keep his Jewish workers and keep him out of jail after he kissed a Jewish girl. One of his workers, Itzhak Stern, become one of his closest friends. After seeing the brutality in the camps, he began paying and bribing people to keep his workers. No matter what he would not let anyone harm his workers. He showed mercy towards them. When the war ended, Schindler became conflicted when he realized that he could've saved more lives if he sold his belongings. He saved more than 1000 lives and became a hero. His personality changed greatly from the beginning of the movie to the end. It's relieving to know that people like him existed and did not resent the people that they were suppose to. The movie is one of the best representations of the holocaust that I have seen.

What struck me the most about the Schindler's List was towards the end when he was talking to all of his workers after the war and reminded his guards what they had been ordered to do, exterminate all remaining Jews. I thought it was interesting when he said that they could go home a murderer or go hame a hero. Considering he was a member of the Nazi party, I would have thought that he would want them all dead when they were no use to him.

How People Change During and After Wars

What struck me the most personally was how a human can change into something else so quickly. Before the war, Nazi soldiers or commanders were probably normal people, who worked and had normal lives, with families and friends. When the war began though, these people turned into something else. You couldn’t even consider them humans anymore. These Nazis or the SS started to kill without hesitation. They simply threw the innocent Jewish person on the ground, took out their gun, and shot them in the head. Sometimes people got lucky and the Nazi’s gun wouldn’t work, and they would survive to the next day. The Nazis and the SS would shoot one to a large amount of Jewish people, in public and in concentration camps. They would even shoot them in the arms of other people. But as the movie started to end, you could see that when it came to shooting anyone, the hands of the Nazis or the SS would shake. They started to become more resistant to violence, and started to use their head. In the very end, when the war was over, Oscar Schindler gave the Nazis the option, to kill the Jews in the factory, or go home to their families. The Nazis in the end chose to go home, because they found no reason to kill anymore people. Wars truly manipulate the minds of people, and turn them into savage beasts. 

Death can also change the war a person acts. Oscar Schindler is the best example. In the beginning, Oscar was power and money hungry, and would do anything for money. He was selfish and always wanted things his way and he would eventually get it, but as Oscar started to spend more time with his Jewish workers, especially Itzhak Stern, he became more attached to them. He couldn't run his business without them, but once he started to hear that his workers were being killed he stepped up right away. At first, the reason for stepping up was because he was loosing money because he had to pay for new Jews. Soon, those reasons changes. When his workers were sent to Auschwitz, he is enraged. He starts to bribe people in order to try to get them back. He even goes there in person to get them back, but he soon becomes broke. He manages to take 1100 Jews out of Auschwitz, but the rest were left and died. When they arrive back to the factory, they are but back to work, but the war ends, and the Jews are liberated. Oscar Schindler committed crimes during his reign of power and the government would be looking for him, so when the war was announced over, he would run away that very night. Before he leaves, the workers that he saved gave him a thank you letter, signed by everyone, and a ring. He starts to weep and realized how much money he still had. He was broke but he started to scream on how he could of sold his car, his clothes, and his badge in order to save a couple more Jews. He thought that saving 1100 wasn't enough, but Stern reassured him it was because without him, everyone would have been dead. Oscar before and during the beginning of the war was a selfish man, but his heart started to turn good, and he saved over a thousand lives. He gave up all his fortune to save those people, and he wishes he could have saved more. 

I think what struck me the most the richness of the characters, each character was interesting as we got to know them Oscar was very selfish and all he cared about was money but as the movie went on he started to realize that he was doing a good thing, He was saving all the Jews by letting them work at his factory, I also think that he is very clever and example of this is he made close relationships with S.S soldiers and he was able to gain their trust, Also by the very end he had realized what he'd done and he thought he could do more for the Jews but he had already done enough. Next character Stern was a very quiet man at the beginning, but he saved his fellow Jews by recruiting them as workers for the factory, he even recruited a man with one arm he knew even though he could't work he had to save him. Then there Goeth who was a cold blooded killer and every time one of the Jews did the wrong he would shoot them without thinking twice. Then Oscar convinces him to show more sympathy towards the Jews and he starts giving them second chances instead of killing them on the spot. In conclusion Schindler's List is probably one of the best movies I have ever scene and the characters were well developed and great in my eyes.

Your observations on Schindler's List

What struck you most about the movie? Was it the randomness and brutality of the violence? Was it the richness of the characters [evil = Amon Goeth; cleverness = Itzach Stern, strength = Helen Hirsch; redemption of humans =  Oscar Schindler]? Make a comment about thee film and then choose a scene or scenes that illustrate your point.  THEN, choose a post made by one of your peers and comment on it.