What Was Schindler's Role during the Holocaust?

During the Holocaust, Oskar Schindler played a great role in saving Jews' lives. At first, Schindler didn't seem to know or care about the magnitude of what was really happening to the Jews; all he seemed to care about was buying a factory. However, a Jewish man named Rudolf Stern helped to save people from being taken to the death camps by claiming that they were essential workers, or workers who Schindler needed in his factory. Most of them were not, but Stern knew that if he said they were, he would be believed by the SS, and in turn would save their lives. However, once Schindler found out about what was happening, he was not very happy, nor was he willing to hand them over to the SS because he needed them in his factory.

One of the first turning points where Schindler actually seemed to care was when he found out that Stern was being taken to the death camps, he set out to try to save him. However, he only really did this because Stern was the key to his operation. Without him, Schindler could not buy and run the factory because he needed the workers that Stern was bringing in. Schindler used his factory as a safe haven for Jews because he didn't want them to

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  2. Although Schindler initially only wanted to make money for himself and was not concerned about the Jews, he ultimately spent his fortune to save their lives. At first, Schindler was motivated by money and was angry when one of his workers was killed by the Nazis because of how it was going to be bad for his own factory and himself. Yet, even though his association with the Jews originally just came from his own desire to profit off of them, the circumstances still humanized the victims for him, which eventually led him to choose good over evil. In Schindler's List, another key moment in Schindler's transformation was his response to seeing that the girl in the red coat had been killed. By then, Schindler had the money he had wanted; however, he realized that in truth, the human life was more valuable. Even all of the money he had made would never be able to bring the murdered victims, like the young girl, back to life or to prevent him from being affected by the atrocities taking place around him. But, allowing himself to be guided by morals rather than money could make a difference for at least some people's futures.

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