Schindler's List

Born on December 11, 1908, in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, Amon Leopold Goeth (sometimes spelled Göth) was executed on September 13, 1946, for crimes he committed against humanity in Lublin and Płaszów. Goeth is a vicious, volatile man who treats the prisoners of Płaszów like personal property to dispose of at a whim. Keneally imagines Goeth as Schindler’s “dark brother,” an evil reflection that Schindler could have easily become. Both men joined far-right, Nazi-adjacent parties relatively young, both set out to profit from the German pillaging of Poland, and both were liberal in their vices of adultery, alcohol, and black-market dealings. Keneally often compares both men, through the literary device of juxtaposition, as separated only by an “unhappy reversal.” This juxtaposition humanizes the evil of the Nazis: If Schindler is an unexceptional man and could have turned out like Goeth, then Goeth could have become like Schindler. The equivalence between the two men makes their respective heroic and evil actions the result of everyday people, not larger-than-life characters.

Goeth begins as the novel’s main antagonist and ends as a powerless man mocked by his former prisoners. Schindler lives out his postwar days on the generosity of the prisoners he saved. Goeth, like Schindler, is investigated by the SS bureaucracy. Unlike Schindler, he can’t escape their investigation unscathed. This is likely because of the breadth of Schindler’s contacts and his gregariousness compared to Goeth. Goeth runs Płaszów solely for his own personal profit: Inspections of the camp by higher-ups are frequently tampered with to give the camp an inflated reputation for producing goods. Schindler runs his camp by bankrupting himself. The relationship each man has to the camp and wealth under his authority symbolizes the difference in their morality. Keneally’s frequent characterization of Schindler as a capitalist is tongue-in-cheek, making the description more apt for Goeth, whose sole concern is personal gain.

Born January 25, 1901, in Cracow, Itzhak Stern died on January 30, 1969. In the novel, Stern initially works as an accountant for a Jewish textile company, which is placed in the hands of Abwehr agent and Treuhänder Sepp Aue. Stern is an educated, eloquent man and one of the first points of contact Schindler has with the Jewish community of Cracow. Stern often talks religion with Schindler, who initiates such conversations. Stern persuades Schindler to employ Jewish workers, which costs him less money than the Polish workers and saves the Jewish people from deportation to camps. In addition, Stern introduces Schindler to the Talmudic verse that states that saving the life of even one individual is enough to save the whole world. Keneally presents this Talmudic verse as “the right seed in the furrow” that convinces Schindler to sabotage the Nazis’ schemes (48).

Stern is one of many people responsible for nudging Schindler toward his radical actions against Nazi Germany. Emilie Schindler (Oskar Schindler’s wife) always believed that other people “summoned forth [Schindler’s] deeper talents” (397) during World War II. When Schindler and Stern first meet, Jewish people in Cracow have already been divested of all economic and political power. Schindler, as a Nazi party man, wears a prominent swastika. Despite the contextual situation of Cracow society, however, Schindler doesn’t treat Stern differently. When Stern tells Schindler that he’s Jewish (which Nazi law required Stern to declare to anyone German), Schindler responds in a tongue-in-cheek way that he’s German. Schindler’s response brushes off the weight placed on the mandate to declare Stern’s Jewishness. Schindler’s disposition toward Jewish people is evident in his first interactions with Stern, but only the community of people around him pushes him to risk his life and fortune to save the Jewish people of Cracow.

Stern quietly resists the Nazi atrocities in Cracow and takes it upon himself to work in tandem with other people to subvert, expose, and reduce the Nazis’ crimes. When the DEF subcamp is liquidated back into the main Płaszów camp, Stern works in Goeth’s offices. He uses this position to help Schindler’s accomplices gather information and illegal photographs of the camp. Stern exemplifies those who brought out Schindler’s “deeper talents.” Stern takes risks to save the other prisoners, both by trusting Schindler and by putting himself in the dangerous position of working in Goeth’s personal office. Stern’s efforts are, at least partly, the spark that sets off the events of Schindler’s List.