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Publication
Distribooks Inc (1994)
Description
In the shadow of Auschwitz, a flamboyant German industrialist grew into a living legend to the Jews of Cracow. He was a womaniser, a heavy drinker and a bon viveur, but to them he became a saviour. This is the extraordinary story of Oskar Schindler, who risked his life to protect Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland and who was transformed by the war into a man with a mission, a compassionate angel of mercy.
Media reviews
THE versatile Australian novelist, Thomas Keneally, tells the true story of Schindler's rescue effort in this remarkable book which has the immediacy and the almost unbearable detail of a thousand eyewitnesses who forgot nothing. The story is not only Schindler's. It is the story of Cracow's dying
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ghetto and the forced labor camp outside of town, at Plaszow. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member Smiler69
Most people have come to know this book via Steven Spielberg's famous 1993 movie version, Schindler's List which won countless awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction at the Academy
The book tells a tale that begins with the larger than life Oskar Schindler, who at the onset of WWII and in the prime of his early thirties is an extremely successful and wealthy industrialist, as well as a well-connected Nazi party member. Schindler is described as a bon-vivant who was handsome, with a strong build, who though married, was an unrepentant womanizer and entertained at least three simultaneous love affairs. He also drank heavily with his business and government contacts—which as the war evolved were more often than not one and the same—but no matter how much alcohol he imbibed, his faculties were never impaired and he never showed signs of inebriation, a quality which was going to serve him well in his often delicate and dangerous dealings. Schindler was a German from the Czech region, and he was living in the Polish town of Kraków for his business dealings, where he had a factory, Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, commonly known as "Emalia", which initially produced enamelware in the form of kitchenware, but Schindler's connections in the Wehrmacht and its Armaments Inspectorate enabled him to obtain contracts to produce enamel cookware for the military. At this time, the Jewish population of Kraków was forced to move into cramped conditions in a ghetto, from which they were eventually to be deported to work camps and concentration camps. To help as many Jews as possible over the war years, Schindler hired as many Jews in his factory as he could—which often meant they were saved from being deported to concentration camps, being useful to the Germans—though usually having to resort to very expensive black market bribes and ruses, especially when a work camp was created outside Kraków and the ghetto was liquidated. Schindler then took many extraordinary steps which would prove both to the Jews and the Germans he was intent on helping the Jews. The Germans let him get away with it because of his important connections and the extravagant bribes he paid to the right people, though he did land in jail at great risk to his life more than once. The commandant of the work camp at Plazów where the ghetto residents who survived the ghetto exile were transported was called Amon Goeth. This man was a sadistic maniac who was in the habit of randomly executing his prisoners on the slightest pretext, though often without the least provocation and was all too happy to follow orders to feed his charges as little as possible. This situation caused Schindler to create a work camp on the grounds of his factory where he could insure the Jews he employed would at least have enough food to eat and have decent chances to survive the war. Then when the work camps in that region were about to be closed down following orders from Berlin and the prisoners were slated to be sent to the death camps, Schindler arranged for his factory to be moved to Brünnlitz in the Czech republic, and this is how Schindler's List of 1,200 Jews was created, naming the Jews who were to be sent over to this new factory and spared the gas chambers.
This is a gripping book and is in many ways a page-turner. Oscar Schindler himself is a fascinating character, and his nemesis Amon Goeth and many of the other characters who people the story seem larger than life and make for thrilling reading. There are many passages in the book which are deeply disturbing, especially when one stops to consider that all the material in the novel is based on facts and on the countless interviews Thomas Keneally had with Schindlerjuden ("Schindler Jews") around the world, and whoever else was willing to talk to him. For those who are sensitive to graphic violence, as I am, there are many description of the abuses done to the Jews by the Nazis and the deeply antisemitic Poles. What makes the book bearable is that all through the narrative there are the tale of individuals whose acts of survival and courage enabled a large group of people to live through the madness of the holocaust. One could take the view that the horrors inflicted on the Jews during WWII continue to this day in various iterations on various ethnic groups and be discouraged by that fact, but then we could also take some small comfort from knowing that there will always some who try their best to help those in need, even in the worst circumstances.
I do intend to watch the movie now I've broken the ice and have read the story. A friend told me the movie ends on a very hopeful note, and that past the mid-point, when the horrors of the Nazis have been shown, things become much brighter with the mission to save the Jews taking over. I guess I'll only find out once I see the movie myself, but he book presents another reality. While it's true enough Schindler did in fact save over one thousand Jews, the book presents the entire process as being filled with danger and anguish for all who had the most to lose, right until the end. In fact, Schindler himself did not come out of the war without suffering some loss. Escaping from the camp at Brünnlitz mere hours before the Russians were due to arrive (when he would have been shot as a German and a Nazi), a diamond (or a quantity of diamonds, according to the book) had been hidden in the upholstery of his car, but this was stripped and stolen shortly after so that Schindler was penniless from then on, and somehow was never quite able to recoup his fortune or find his direction in the years following the war, until his death in 1974. However, he always stayed in contact with his Schindlerjuden throughout the world and was supported morally and financially by the Jewish community, and made frequent travels to Israel, where he was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government in 1963.
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Awards, though I refused to see it at the cinema when it was released and have never seen it since either, even though it is often listed among the greatest films ever made. Stories about the holocaust have always been very difficult for me to deal with, no doubt largely because of the fact that I was exposed to holocaust material at an early age growing up in Israel for a few years, where the message is "Never Forget" and the holocaust images I was exposed to as a young girl were seared into my brain and indeed never forgotten. I don't think I would have ever picked up the book either, if I hadn't become a Folio Society collector; which are beautiful high quality hardcover illustrated books, and fallen in love with the drawing style of Tim Laing, who has illustrated several Folio Society editions, namely of a trio of John Le Carré books. His realistic pencil drawing style was highly inspirational to me as an artist and I was moved to communicate by email with him directly to ask him for some professional tips which he was kind enough to share with me. When I later discovered FS had published Schindler's Ark in 2009 and that it was also illustrated by Tim Laing, I simply had to have it. Then a friend from the Folio Society Devotees picked it out for me and of course I couldn't refuse her.The book tells a tale that begins with the larger than life Oskar Schindler, who at the onset of WWII and in the prime of his early thirties is an extremely successful and wealthy industrialist, as well as a well-connected Nazi party member. Schindler is described as a bon-vivant who was handsome, with a strong build, who though married, was an unrepentant womanizer and entertained at least three simultaneous love affairs. He also drank heavily with his business and government contacts—which as the war evolved were more often than not one and the same—but no matter how much alcohol he imbibed, his faculties were never impaired and he never showed signs of inebriation, a quality which was going to serve him well in his often delicate and dangerous dealings. Schindler was a German from the Czech region, and he was living in the Polish town of Kraków for his business dealings, where he had a factory, Deutsche Emaillewaren-Fabrik, commonly known as "Emalia", which initially produced enamelware in the form of kitchenware, but Schindler's connections in the Wehrmacht and its Armaments Inspectorate enabled him to obtain contracts to produce enamel cookware for the military. At this time, the Jewish population of Kraków was forced to move into cramped conditions in a ghetto, from which they were eventually to be deported to work camps and concentration camps. To help as many Jews as possible over the war years, Schindler hired as many Jews in his factory as he could—which often meant they were saved from being deported to concentration camps, being useful to the Germans—though usually having to resort to very expensive black market bribes and ruses, especially when a work camp was created outside Kraków and the ghetto was liquidated. Schindler then took many extraordinary steps which would prove both to the Jews and the Germans he was intent on helping the Jews. The Germans let him get away with it because of his important connections and the extravagant bribes he paid to the right people, though he did land in jail at great risk to his life more than once. The commandant of the work camp at Plazów where the ghetto residents who survived the ghetto exile were transported was called Amon Goeth. This man was a sadistic maniac who was in the habit of randomly executing his prisoners on the slightest pretext, though often without the least provocation and was all too happy to follow orders to feed his charges as little as possible. This situation caused Schindler to create a work camp on the grounds of his factory where he could insure the Jews he employed would at least have enough food to eat and have decent chances to survive the war. Then when the work camps in that region were about to be closed down following orders from Berlin and the prisoners were slated to be sent to the death camps, Schindler arranged for his factory to be moved to Brünnlitz in the Czech republic, and this is how Schindler's List of 1,200 Jews was created, naming the Jews who were to be sent over to this new factory and spared the gas chambers.
This is a gripping book and is in many ways a page-turner. Oscar Schindler himself is a fascinating character, and his nemesis Amon Goeth and many of the other characters who people the story seem larger than life and make for thrilling reading. There are many passages in the book which are deeply disturbing, especially when one stops to consider that all the material in the novel is based on facts and on the countless interviews Thomas Keneally had with Schindlerjuden ("Schindler Jews") around the world, and whoever else was willing to talk to him. For those who are sensitive to graphic violence, as I am, there are many description of the abuses done to the Jews by the Nazis and the deeply antisemitic Poles. What makes the book bearable is that all through the narrative there are the tale of individuals whose acts of survival and courage enabled a large group of people to live through the madness of the holocaust. One could take the view that the horrors inflicted on the Jews during WWII continue to this day in various iterations on various ethnic groups and be discouraged by that fact, but then we could also take some small comfort from knowing that there will always some who try their best to help those in need, even in the worst circumstances.
I do intend to watch the movie now I've broken the ice and have read the story. A friend told me the movie ends on a very hopeful note, and that past the mid-point, when the horrors of the Nazis have been shown, things become much brighter with the mission to save the Jews taking over. I guess I'll only find out once I see the movie myself, but he book presents another reality. While it's true enough Schindler did in fact save over one thousand Jews, the book presents the entire process as being filled with danger and anguish for all who had the most to lose, right until the end. In fact, Schindler himself did not come out of the war without suffering some loss. Escaping from the camp at Brünnlitz mere hours before the Russians were due to arrive (when he would have been shot as a German and a Nazi), a diamond (or a quantity of diamonds, according to the book) had been hidden in the upholstery of his car, but this was stripped and stolen shortly after so that Schindler was penniless from then on, and somehow was never quite able to recoup his fortune or find his direction in the years following the war, until his death in 1974. However, he always stayed in contact with his Schindlerjuden throughout the world and was supported morally and financially by the Jewish community, and made frequent travels to Israel, where he was named Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government in 1963.
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LibraryThing member LisaMaria_C
I consider Spielberg's film based on this novel one of the most moving and powerful films I'd ever seen. Surely, I thought, that film would diminish the impact of the book. It's true that certainly many of the most powerful scenes in that film can be recognized in the book--the little girl in the
Keneally's book is in that uneasy territory between fiction and non-fiction called "creative non-fiction." As he writes in his Author's Note:
To use the texture and devices of a novel to tell a true story is a course that has frequently been followed in modern writing. It is the one I chose to follow here - both because the novelist's craft is the only one I can lay claim to, and because the novel's techniques seem suited for a character of such ambiguity and magnitude as Oskar. I have attempted, however, to avoid all fiction, since fiction would debase the record, and to distinguish between reality and the myths which are likely to attach themselves to a man of Oskar's stature. It has sometimes been necessary to make reasonable constructs of conversations of which Oskar and others have left only the briefest record. But most exchanges and conversations, and all events, are based on the detailed recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), of Schindler himself, and of other witnesses to Oskar's acts of outrageous rescue.
So yes, the book reads like a novel, and many of its conversations and thoughts are invented--but it is more closely based on fact than the film. Ultimately the Schindler that emerges is even braver and more audacious than Spielberg depicted... but it's a much more complicated tale. And there are other "Schindlers." In the film Schindler in vain tries to convince a fellow industrialist to go in with his scheme to transport his Jewish workers to Moravia. The film implied the man acted--or didn't act--out of cowardice or indifference or even greed. Keneally thought it was probably because the man involved--Julius Madritson--probably thought Schindler unreliable and the scheme unworkable. (Madritson saved many Jews himself and was honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.) An even more poignant figure in the book that never made it into the film was a SS Sergeant, Oswald Bosko, who together with Madritson saved hundreds of Jewish children from the Kraków ghetto, only to be executed by the Gestapo. There are a lot of differences like that between the book and the film.
Spielberg's film is perhaps the more emotionally moving experience, although some of the book's impact on me might have been blunted by my watching the film first (and several times at that.) But this more complex, well-written, fast-reading novelized history is, I think, even richer in its panoply of people from the darkest demon black to well, never angelic white.... Oskar was hard-drinking, reckless with money, a womanizer--but absolutely admirable and inspiring nevertheless--a true-to-life Scarlet Pimpernel who saved over a thousand lives.
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red coat, the woman engineer shot by Amon Goeth, the rescue of the women from Auschwitz. But there's a lot more to the book than those scenes, a lot that never made it into the film. Keneally's book is in that uneasy territory between fiction and non-fiction called "creative non-fiction." As he writes in his Author's Note:
To use the texture and devices of a novel to tell a true story is a course that has frequently been followed in modern writing. It is the one I chose to follow here - both because the novelist's craft is the only one I can lay claim to, and because the novel's techniques seem suited for a character of such ambiguity and magnitude as Oskar. I have attempted, however, to avoid all fiction, since fiction would debase the record, and to distinguish between reality and the myths which are likely to attach themselves to a man of Oskar's stature. It has sometimes been necessary to make reasonable constructs of conversations of which Oskar and others have left only the briefest record. But most exchanges and conversations, and all events, are based on the detailed recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), of Schindler himself, and of other witnesses to Oskar's acts of outrageous rescue.
So yes, the book reads like a novel, and many of its conversations and thoughts are invented--but it is more closely based on fact than the film. Ultimately the Schindler that emerges is even braver and more audacious than Spielberg depicted... but it's a much more complicated tale. And there are other "Schindlers." In the film Schindler in vain tries to convince a fellow industrialist to go in with his scheme to transport his Jewish workers to Moravia. The film implied the man acted--or didn't act--out of cowardice or indifference or even greed. Keneally thought it was probably because the man involved--Julius Madritson--probably thought Schindler unreliable and the scheme unworkable. (Madritson saved many Jews himself and was honored as “Righteous Among the Nations” by Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust.) An even more poignant figure in the book that never made it into the film was a SS Sergeant, Oswald Bosko, who together with Madritson saved hundreds of Jewish children from the Kraków ghetto, only to be executed by the Gestapo. There are a lot of differences like that between the book and the film.
Spielberg's film is perhaps the more emotionally moving experience, although some of the book's impact on me might have been blunted by my watching the film first (and several times at that.) But this more complex, well-written, fast-reading novelized history is, I think, even richer in its panoply of people from the darkest demon black to well, never angelic white.... Oskar was hard-drinking, reckless with money, a womanizer--but absolutely admirable and inspiring nevertheless--a true-to-life Scarlet Pimpernel who saved over a thousand lives.
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LibraryThing member elleayess
Having seen the movie many times, I couldn't wait to get the book and read it. To my pleasant suprise, the book was phenomenal. While the movie does not hold perfectly true to the book (what do you want, it is a "based on the book" movie), the book explains deeper things that were eluded to in the
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movie. For example, Circumstance A occurs in the movie. As a movie watcher, you just take Circumstance A at face value as simply being part of the story. Well, the book expains completely what Circumstance A actually is. This made reading the book that much more pleasurable as it served as more of a companion to the movie than a carbon copy of the movie. The book also explains Schindler's emotional feelings better than what is portrayed in the movie. Recommended reading for anyone who has seen this movie and appreciated it. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who saved thousands of Jewish people from death in World War II Poland. His story is well known, thanks to the film adaptation of this book. The book is a realistic, factual, stark portrayal of real human drama. Keneally portrays Oskar as a compassionate
Even though I've read several books about the holocaust, I've been able to distance myself from the reality -- not denying these events occurred, but not facing the brutality, either. This book was different. I'm sure my mind was not as graphic as the film, and I unconsciously protected myself from the worst of it, but I still had to take frequent breaks. There were so many individual, heartbreaking stories; I found myself wondering how it could be classified as fiction. The author's note reads, "To use the texture and devices of a novel to tell a true story is a course which has frequently been followed in modern writing. It is the one I have chosen to follow here; both because the craft of the novelist is the only craft to which I can lay claim, and because the novel's techniques seem suited for a character of such ambiguity and magnitude as Oskar. I have attempted to avoid all fiction, though, since fiction would debase the record, and to distinguish between the reality and myths which are likely to attach themselves to a man of Oskar's stature. Sometimes it has been necessary to attempt to reconstruct conversations of which Oskar and others have left only the briefest record. But most exchanges and conversations, and all events, are based on the detailed recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), of Schindler himself, and of other witnesses to Oskar's acts of outrageous rescue. " Seems like nonfiction to me ...
I suspect this book won the Booker Prize more on the basis of Schindler's story; the writing itself was not as fine as I'd hoped. And Keneally was rather repetitive regarding Schindler's appetite for women and alcohol. Was he portraying him as "merely human," or admiring him? I found it tiresome, so a book I would normally have rated 4 stars ended up with only 3.
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savior, but not a saint. He was a womanizer and a heavy drinker. After witnessing violence in a Polish ghetto, he was moved to establish a camp on the premises of his factory, with better conditions for his workers. Still, his workers were not immune to the random acts of violence and murder. During the last year or so of the war, through deft negotiation and subterfuge, he managed to transport thousands of Jews to safety, ensuring their liberation when the war came to an end. Even though I've read several books about the holocaust, I've been able to distance myself from the reality -- not denying these events occurred, but not facing the brutality, either. This book was different. I'm sure my mind was not as graphic as the film, and I unconsciously protected myself from the worst of it, but I still had to take frequent breaks. There were so many individual, heartbreaking stories; I found myself wondering how it could be classified as fiction. The author's note reads, "To use the texture and devices of a novel to tell a true story is a course which has frequently been followed in modern writing. It is the one I have chosen to follow here; both because the craft of the novelist is the only craft to which I can lay claim, and because the novel's techniques seem suited for a character of such ambiguity and magnitude as Oskar. I have attempted to avoid all fiction, though, since fiction would debase the record, and to distinguish between the reality and myths which are likely to attach themselves to a man of Oskar's stature. Sometimes it has been necessary to attempt to reconstruct conversations of which Oskar and others have left only the briefest record. But most exchanges and conversations, and all events, are based on the detailed recollections of the Schindlerjuden (Schindler Jews), of Schindler himself, and of other witnesses to Oskar's acts of outrageous rescue. " Seems like nonfiction to me ...
I suspect this book won the Booker Prize more on the basis of Schindler's story; the writing itself was not as fine as I'd hoped. And Keneally was rather repetitive regarding Schindler's appetite for women and alcohol. Was he portraying him as "merely human," or admiring him? I found it tiresome, so a book I would normally have rated 4 stars ended up with only 3.
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LibraryThing member yourotherleft
'He who saves a single life saves the world entire.'
Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler who saved more Jews during the Holocaust than any other one person. Winner of the Booker Prize in 1982, it is the only lightly fictionalized account of Oskar and the many Jews he saved. While billed
Keneally charts Schindler's life from his youth until the beginning of World War II and speculates about what in Schindler's life could have predisposed him to be a person who would risk everything to save as many as he could from the Holocaust. Schindler was a man of loose morals, notorious for taking lovers and cheating on his wife and later even cheating on his lover with yet another mistress, all with little regard to hiding his unfaithfulness. Schindler moved to Cracow in Poland to make his fortune at the start of World War II, soon acquired an Enamelware factory and landed contracts to produce mess kits for the war effort. In short, at the beginning of the war Schindler was a hard-drinking unethical sort with an eye for profit and an uncanny means of knowing the right people and the right way to wheel and deal to achieve monetary gain. At the end of war, he was still the same Schindler but had used his talents and connections to save the lives of over a thousand Jews.
"You'll be safe working here. If you work here, then you'll live through the war."
The new women of DEF took their job instruction in a pleasant daze. It was as if some mad old Gypsy with nothing to gain had told them they would marry a count. The promise had forever altered Edith Liebgold's expectation of life. If ever they did shoot her, she would probably stand there protesting, "But the Herr Direktor said this couldn't happen."
Keneally has done a fantastic job of uniting the many personal accounts and Oskar's records into a coherent and stunning narrative of Schindler's unlikely heroics. He covers the beginning stages of Schindler's friendships with Jews in Cracow, the moment in which it seems he was galvanized to act when during an Aktion in the ghetto he witnesses brutal killings taking place in front of a young girl in a bright red coat, and his eventual use of his connections and "friendships" with various and sundry SS officers to remove Jews from the brutal environment at concentration camp Plaszow for work and protection at his factory. Schindler's larger than life personality, his immense monetary resources, and his way of knowing and appropriately bribing just the right people to ensure the survival of "his" Jews are brought strikingly to life.
Schindler, however, is not the sole focus of the book. Keneally contrasts life in Schindler's camp with the many heart-wrenching stories of Jewish survivors who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust. These stories accentuated with Keneally's gripping prose, which adds a strangely poetic edge to even the most dire situation, create a fuller picture of the Holocaust in Cracow than one can get from the many Holocaust memoirs written by single survivors.
There in the a pile at Wulkan's knees, the mouths of a thousand dead were represented, each one calling for him to join them by standing and flinging his grading stone across the room and declaring the tainted origin of all this precious stuff.
While at times physically painful to read, Keneally's narration lays bare the Holocaust for readers and leaves no doubt as to Schindler's heroism despite his moral failings. Schindler's List is a slow and difficult read, with countless heart-breaking stories and more names and titles to keep track of than one can reasonably retain. Nonetheless, it is an incredible work which memorializes the worst of times and the heroism of one man who foresaw what would happen and chose to do something about it.
Schindler's List is the story of Oskar Schindler who saved more Jews during the Holocaust than any other one person. Winner of the Booker Prize in 1982, it is the only lightly fictionalized account of Oskar and the many Jews he saved. While billed
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as fiction, Schindler's List draws heavily from the remembrances of the people who were saved by or knew Schindler as well as from Schindler's own accounts of the period. As result, it reads more like history and its style is sometimes reminiscent of a television documentary in the way the various stories told by different survivors are assembled together. Keneally charts Schindler's life from his youth until the beginning of World War II and speculates about what in Schindler's life could have predisposed him to be a person who would risk everything to save as many as he could from the Holocaust. Schindler was a man of loose morals, notorious for taking lovers and cheating on his wife and later even cheating on his lover with yet another mistress, all with little regard to hiding his unfaithfulness. Schindler moved to Cracow in Poland to make his fortune at the start of World War II, soon acquired an Enamelware factory and landed contracts to produce mess kits for the war effort. In short, at the beginning of the war Schindler was a hard-drinking unethical sort with an eye for profit and an uncanny means of knowing the right people and the right way to wheel and deal to achieve monetary gain. At the end of war, he was still the same Schindler but had used his talents and connections to save the lives of over a thousand Jews.
"You'll be safe working here. If you work here, then you'll live through the war."
The new women of DEF took their job instruction in a pleasant daze. It was as if some mad old Gypsy with nothing to gain had told them they would marry a count. The promise had forever altered Edith Liebgold's expectation of life. If ever they did shoot her, she would probably stand there protesting, "But the Herr Direktor said this couldn't happen."
Keneally has done a fantastic job of uniting the many personal accounts and Oskar's records into a coherent and stunning narrative of Schindler's unlikely heroics. He covers the beginning stages of Schindler's friendships with Jews in Cracow, the moment in which it seems he was galvanized to act when during an Aktion in the ghetto he witnesses brutal killings taking place in front of a young girl in a bright red coat, and his eventual use of his connections and "friendships" with various and sundry SS officers to remove Jews from the brutal environment at concentration camp Plaszow for work and protection at his factory. Schindler's larger than life personality, his immense monetary resources, and his way of knowing and appropriately bribing just the right people to ensure the survival of "his" Jews are brought strikingly to life.
Schindler, however, is not the sole focus of the book. Keneally contrasts life in Schindler's camp with the many heart-wrenching stories of Jewish survivors who witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust. These stories accentuated with Keneally's gripping prose, which adds a strangely poetic edge to even the most dire situation, create a fuller picture of the Holocaust in Cracow than one can get from the many Holocaust memoirs written by single survivors.
There in the a pile at Wulkan's knees, the mouths of a thousand dead were represented, each one calling for him to join them by standing and flinging his grading stone across the room and declaring the tainted origin of all this precious stuff.
While at times physically painful to read, Keneally's narration lays bare the Holocaust for readers and leaves no doubt as to Schindler's heroism despite his moral failings. Schindler's List is a slow and difficult read, with countless heart-breaking stories and more names and titles to keep track of than one can reasonably retain. Nonetheless, it is an incredible work which memorializes the worst of times and the heroism of one man who foresaw what would happen and chose to do something about it.
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LibraryThing member PilgrimJess
"Whoever saves one life, saves the entire world."
Oskar Schindler was an unlikely hero, a flamboyant womaniser and heavy drinker who enjoyed the good life socialising with Nazi concentration camp commanders, yet in the shadow of Auschwitz he continually risked his own life and fortune outwitting the
Schindler's List, is a piece of non-fiction and the author tells his story by weaving testimony from survivors who remembered the German industrialist together with Schindler's own accounts detailing how the Nazi system worked at the time and the deceptions he practised on the SS officials whom he came in to contact with to circumvent it. He was arrested on more than one occasion suspected of treasonable activity, but always managed to talk his way to freedom.
I find myself really torn by this book. This is a remarkable true story that would probably never have come to life without the author's (and then later Hollywood's) intervention outside of the Jewish community which would have been a real shame. However, the largely analytical tone of the book never really seemed to do justice to the man at the centre of it. Schindler was certainly a complex man, he was a playboy, with a string of female lovers, enjoying wining and dining Nazi officials who was simultaneously venerated by the Jews sheltering under his wing, who remained alive almost because of his personal charisma and charm, bribery and cronyism. Now whilst I realise that the author was endeavouring to avoid (in his own words) 'canonizing' Schindler the tone of the novel somehow distanced him from the reader rather than really animating him. He remained an enigma to the end. An unremarkable man in peace time who in six years of war-time did remarkable things.
"The principle was, death should not be entered like some snug harbour. It should be an unambiguous refusal to surrender."
Keneally's 'The Playmaker' is in my top 10 all time favourites and whilst this piece of work won't be going on to that particular list the man at the centre of it deserves not to be forgotten and therefore the book deserves to be widely read which earned it an extra star.
Oskar Schindler was an unlikely hero, a flamboyant womaniser and heavy drinker who enjoyed the good life socialising with Nazi concentration camp commanders, yet in the shadow of Auschwitz he continually risked his own life and fortune outwitting the
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SS to protect the lives of over a thousand Jews in Nazi-occupied Poland and Czechoslovakia.Schindler's List, is a piece of non-fiction and the author tells his story by weaving testimony from survivors who remembered the German industrialist together with Schindler's own accounts detailing how the Nazi system worked at the time and the deceptions he practised on the SS officials whom he came in to contact with to circumvent it. He was arrested on more than one occasion suspected of treasonable activity, but always managed to talk his way to freedom.
I find myself really torn by this book. This is a remarkable true story that would probably never have come to life without the author's (and then later Hollywood's) intervention outside of the Jewish community which would have been a real shame. However, the largely analytical tone of the book never really seemed to do justice to the man at the centre of it. Schindler was certainly a complex man, he was a playboy, with a string of female lovers, enjoying wining and dining Nazi officials who was simultaneously venerated by the Jews sheltering under his wing, who remained alive almost because of his personal charisma and charm, bribery and cronyism. Now whilst I realise that the author was endeavouring to avoid (in his own words) 'canonizing' Schindler the tone of the novel somehow distanced him from the reader rather than really animating him. He remained an enigma to the end. An unremarkable man in peace time who in six years of war-time did remarkable things.
"The principle was, death should not be entered like some snug harbour. It should be an unambiguous refusal to surrender."
Keneally's 'The Playmaker' is in my top 10 all time favourites and whilst this piece of work won't be going on to that particular list the man at the centre of it deserves not to be forgotten and therefore the book deserves to be widely read which earned it an extra star.
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LibraryThing member dysmonia
A famous movie, I didn't want to watch it until I had read the book. Keneally isn't a brilliant writer, but Schindler's List seems well-researched. It was easy to read without being overly simple.
Throughout the book, I was confused by Oskar Schindler, the man. What were his motivations? Did he
At the end of the book, his wife is quoted as having said in a documentary that Schindler didn't do anything remarkable before the war, and he didn't do anything remarkable afterwards either. I think this says it best. That particular situation, the people in it, and the way he reacted to the events and the individuals are the reason for everything. In the end, Schindler was nothing more or less than himself.
Throughout the book, I was confused by Oskar Schindler, the man. What were his motivations? Did he
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draw a moral line in the sand, refusing to pass a certain point of complicity? Was he mainly a businessman who tried to use the war to his advantage? Or was he perhaps just hung over half the time and drunk the other half, and therefore never in a truly clear state of mind? Show Less
LibraryThing member Clurb
Keneally writes in a very dispassionate style about the phenomenon of Schindler's factories yet still manages to convey the brutality and horror of the time through the various short stories he weaves the narrative with. A masterfully written and haunting book.
LibraryThing member wordygirl39
Like everyone else who read this book I was moved. Keneally's other work is not as strong as SL, so I didn't know what to expect. I found it so powerful that I bought The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich after reading it, though, so it was one of those powerful, life-altering books that meant
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something more than a thrilling story. Show Less
LibraryThing member ljhliesl
I feel like I'm violating an unspoken law, one akin to the actual law against display of the swastika in Germany, by saying this is a bad book. But to be silent about a flawed book because of its subject is worse. I can't believe this badly composed piece won the Booker Prize.
The prose is clumsy.
I understand why he couldn't write a history: the fact-checking would have been impossible. Maybe a memoir, whose format allows vagueness, subjectivity, and invention, would have served. But this book, as written, is a bad novel.
The prose is clumsy.
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It is littered with unnecessary fragments that chop up the flow without adding the punch or serving any of the purposes a fragment can. Worse, the narrative itself is choppy. I sympathize with the task Thomas Keneally set himself: he wanted to tell a story that should be told, a real story with a factual basis. To respect the facts, he couldn't invent conversations or manipulate the timeline. Yet because the source material is incomplete, he and the witnesses intrude upon the story to say that this is one way it could have happened, or here are three eyewitnesses' versions plus a more likely scenario from a nonwitness who nonetheless knew was was going on. Different people remember different periods, and so characters drop in and then drop out without introduction or conclusion. Even the pre-movie reader knows the gist from the jacket; what the book fails to deliver is thesis, antithesis, and synthesis; also interest. It does deliver mawkishness (though not, in Keneally's defense, anything like Liam Neeson's final speech). I understand why he couldn't write a history: the fact-checking would have been impossible. Maybe a memoir, whose format allows vagueness, subjectivity, and invention, would have served. But this book, as written, is a bad novel.
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LibraryThing member Stevil2001
As a novel trying its best to be a work of nonfiction (or perhaps a work of nonfiction trying its best to depict things novelisitcally), Schindler's List was, for me, a bit of a failed experiment. As a novel, it doesn't work because we rarely get into people's heads enough to care about them,
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especially Schindler. All Keneally can do is speculate as to their mental states. But it's not quite fact-based enough to succeed as a work of nonfiction, meaning we're left with something kinda indeterminate. I was never drawn in, never as affected as I felt I ought to be by the acts of Nazi brutality: if they had been factual accounts, I could have horrified, and if they had been deeply personal, I could have been distraught. As it was, I found the cuts away from the so-so story of Schindler boring, as people I didn't care about as characters were murdered time after tedious time. (Which sounds awful to say, but he really didn't hold my interest.) There was one bit that really got to me, though: when a group of Jewish jewelers are called on by the Germans to appraise jewelry taken from dead Jews, and they are suddenly presented with a suitcase of gold teeth still covered in blood... Show Less
LibraryThing member Embejo
I read this simply because I’d seen the movie and was impressed by the story and wanted to find out more. The book while written as a novel, was constructed from recollections and records of real events…only private conversations were reconstructed by the author. In saying this though, it was
The story itself though….amazing. I don’t think I will ever understand how these events really happened, and how such beliefs (towards the Jews) were ever able to take hold, and at a time not so very long ago.
Recommended.
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presented in a factual and largely chronological way, and not really dramatised. The story was dramatic in itself, but there wasn’t anything to make you sympathise particularly with Oskar Schindler, the hero of this tale. So I found it a little more challenging to read than I’d expected. Also there were a lot of German military and SS rank names written in German throughout the book which were a virtual mouthful, and along with Polish place names and so on, it took a bit of concentration.The story itself though….amazing. I don’t think I will ever understand how these events really happened, and how such beliefs (towards the Jews) were ever able to take hold, and at a time not so very long ago.
Recommended.
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LibraryThing member .Monkey.
A thoroughly wonderful compelling tale of a rich selfish man turned selfless when he was made witness to horrible human atrocities. His moral outrage compelled him to do something very few would dare do; very few have ever had the strength to fight something for so worthy a cause, so boldly in the
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face of mortal danger, at no benefit to themselves. Schindler was one a diamond in the rough, truly a remarkable human being. Show Less
LibraryThing member Angelic55blonde
Seriously what can I say about this book? IT IS AMAZING. If you haven't read it, have you been under a rock your whole life? The book is heavy but so interesting and the movie is great too. So if you're not much of a reader, watch the movie.
LibraryThing member seldombites
I found this book really hard to get into at first but once the story got going, it was a little easier. There were some really interesting pieces of information about Oskar and I learned a few things about the war that I hadn't known before. Still, I think this is one of the few cases where I
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believe the movie is just as rewarding as the book. Show Less
LibraryThing member seoulful
Another memorable addition to the WWII Holocaust literature. Books have been written trying to categorize those who rescued Jews at great risk to their own lives, but this was not an easy task. People from very diverse walks of life and philosophical and religious persuasions participated in acts
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of courage. Schlindler was as much an enigma as many of the other rescuers. A wealthy industrialist who employed Jews in his factory, Schlindler fought to the end to save them from the Nazi death camps. And yet his own life betrayed no moral standard or compelling faith that would give a clue as to the reasons for his actions. Did it begin as a dangerous, thrilling game he played and then turn into something finer as he connected with his Jews? We may never know, but are grateful to him and the many others who gave light during that very dark time. Show Less
LibraryThing member Amzzz
A remarkable tale of how one man, who was by no means leading a virtuous lifestyle, became a hero to the thousand he saved from death. The story is indeed wonderful, all the more so because it's true, but at times I found it a little dry to read. Harsh, I know.
LibraryThing member eleanor_eader
Powerful and moving, Schindler’s Ark* details Oskar Schindler’s almost mythic rescue of over a thousand Polish Jews during the holocaust. An entrepreneur and war-profiteer, Schindler’s ‘befriending’ of Plaszów's commandant Amon Goeth allowed him to first build his business, and then
Keneally’s biography is of Schindler and Goeth, and the people whose stories most closely intersected with theirs. He lends it no melodrama or sentimentality, letting the story, the humanity, and the background information of German military history build for the reader a sense of astonishment, horror, gratitude and triumph.
*Filmed and published outside the UK as Schindler’s List
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manoeuvre it into a haven for Jews against the Nazi death machine. Schindler maintained a business-crippling system of bribes, wining and dining Goeth and his ilk, with the help of only a few sympathetic supporters, took in Jews both skilled and unskilled, feeding them through the black market and promising to see them through the war and ‘five minutes after’… and accomplished this literally death-defying coup under the nose of the SS, despite a number of arrests.Keneally’s biography is of Schindler and Goeth, and the people whose stories most closely intersected with theirs. He lends it no melodrama or sentimentality, letting the story, the humanity, and the background information of German military history build for the reader a sense of astonishment, horror, gratitude and triumph.
*Filmed and published outside the UK as Schindler’s List
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LibraryThing member jmoncton
I picked up this book after finishing a Daniel Silva mystery about hunting down Nazi war criminals. The Silva book was great but the descriptions of the heinous acts of the war criminals made me seek out a book that described a WWII hero. Schindler's List definitely describes some great heroic
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deeds. Unfortunately it does not hold back on describing some awful sadistic acts. The book was interesting - I would like to see the movie, but now I REALLY need something upbeat. Show Less
LibraryThing member booksandwine
Who hasn't seen the movie Schindler's List? Seriously, I think most people know the story of the beneficient nazi who saved at least 1,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Anyways, Schindler's List written by Thomas Keneally is a fictional book, it is not a biography or a history book. I am absolutely
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not a Holocaust-denier, I'm just repeating what the copy-right page says. However, there are non-fiction books out there about Schindler. This book reads like non-iction trying to be fiction, as in it's dry and academic at times, but there is the pretense of story. I feel like since this book is intended to be a novel, perhaps Keneally should have written it so it was more readable. Don't get me wrong, parts of this book broke my heart, such as the detailing of the ghetto liquidation. It's touching that one man can be so humane in the face of evil, but let's not ignore facts. Schindler was an oppourtunist, a womanizer, and an excessive drinker. Yes, he had vices, but still he did save a ton of people which makes him Righteous Among Nations. Anyways, if you have a passing interest in this dark era of history, this book is definately worth a read, however, keep in mind it is a work of fiction sort of like a movie prefaced with the "based on a true story" bit . Show Less
LibraryThing member timj
Informative and harrowing.
LibraryThing member benuathanasia
A beautiful book. I prefer the movie, but the inside stuff that got left on the cutting room floor was rather fascinating. I think they could have tacked on another three hours to the movie and it still would have been fascinating, there was so many interesting anecdotes.
LibraryThing member ursula
Oskar Schindler was more than a rescuer of Jews; he was a subversive force. He was able to get SS officers to look the other way, able to avoid manufacturing anything of value to the German war effort, able to show other people that there might be a way to at least save some people. It would be
At the same time, the book is so insistent on not sanctifying Schindler that it feels like the author tries very hard to point out Schindler's failings. He was a womanizer, he drank too much, he mostly ignored his wife, he lived as big as his station in life would allow. It's great to acknowledge that he wasn't perfect, but his failings were also part of what made his entire enterprise work. Plying people with food and drink, having long conversations with them even when he abhorred them, letting some heinous things continue - all were part of why he was able to do anything at all. If he'd gone around trying to save everyone, or stopping a camp commandant from beating his maid, the illusion that he was on the Germans' side even slightly (and appearing so slightly is all he could manage) would have disappeared, and his chances to do any good along with it.
It's an interesting story, and an important one. My rating is lower than the book probably deserves, but I wasn't as affected by the story as I expected to be. I think that having toured Dachau two years ago changed my ability to be moved by words written about the Holocaust. Everything pales in comparison to standing there.
Recommended for: anyone and everyone
Quote: "It was fortunate for Abraham that Oskar did not ask himself why it was Bankier's name he called, that he did not pause and consider that Bankier's had only equal value to all the other names loaded aboard the Ostbahn rolling stock. An existentialist might have been defeated by the numbers at Prokocim, stunned by the equal appeal of all names and voices. But Schindler was a philosophic innocent. He knew who he knew. He knew the name of Bankier."
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hard to overstate what he managed to do. He may have "only" saved a small number of people, but that was more than he could have been reasonably expected to do. He put himself on the line for them in a very real way.At the same time, the book is so insistent on not sanctifying Schindler that it feels like the author tries very hard to point out Schindler's failings. He was a womanizer, he drank too much, he mostly ignored his wife, he lived as big as his station in life would allow. It's great to acknowledge that he wasn't perfect, but his failings were also part of what made his entire enterprise work. Plying people with food and drink, having long conversations with them even when he abhorred them, letting some heinous things continue - all were part of why he was able to do anything at all. If he'd gone around trying to save everyone, or stopping a camp commandant from beating his maid, the illusion that he was on the Germans' side even slightly (and appearing so slightly is all he could manage) would have disappeared, and his chances to do any good along with it.
It's an interesting story, and an important one. My rating is lower than the book probably deserves, but I wasn't as affected by the story as I expected to be. I think that having toured Dachau two years ago changed my ability to be moved by words written about the Holocaust. Everything pales in comparison to standing there.
Recommended for: anyone and everyone
Quote: "It was fortunate for Abraham that Oskar did not ask himself why it was Bankier's name he called, that he did not pause and consider that Bankier's had only equal value to all the other names loaded aboard the Ostbahn rolling stock. An existentialist might have been defeated by the numbers at Prokocim, stunned by the equal appeal of all names and voices. But Schindler was a philosophic innocent. He knew who he knew. He knew the name of Bankier."
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LibraryThing member donttalktofreaks
Great, although depressing, book about Schindler and his transformation from greedy businessman to risking his life for his Jewish workers.
LibraryThing member wyn
A true story that was astonishing, powerful and gripping and well told by the author. With a lot of the info being provided by survivors and the background knowledge of the war it is very believable and gives us a true insight into these harrowing times.
Subjects
Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 1982)
LA Times Book Prize (Finalist — Fiction — 1983)
Writers Guild of America Award (Winner — Best Adapted Screenplay — 1993)
BAFTA Award (Winner — Best Adapted Screenplay — 1993)
Language
Original language
German
Original publication date
1982 (1e édition originale australienne)
1983 (1e traduction et édition française, Robert Laffont / RTL
1988 (Réédition française, J'ai lu)
1994-02-04 (Réédition Française, Robert Laffont)
2015-05-13 (Réédition Française, Pavillons, Robert Laffont)
ISBN
3442425298 / 9783442425297