by Natasha Nemyre

Created on: April 06, 2009

In 1939 the German army entered Poland. Poland fell to Germany in a mere two weeks. So begins the story of "Schindler's List"; so begins years of fear, pain, torture, and attempted extermination for Europe's Jews. Released in 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring stirring performances by Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, and Ralph Fiennes; "Schindler's List" tells the story of a German businessman and his incalculable impact on the lives of thousands of Polish Jews.

Upon the occupation of Poland, the Germans amass all Jews and relocate them into specially constructed ghettos located in the larger cities. "Schindler's List" focuses on one such ghetto located in Krakow. One ambitious German businessman named Oskar Schindler sees this large mass of now unemployed persons as an opportunity to make money. He sets about creating a business to provide goods to the German army. He employs Jews because they are easily accessible and a virtually free workforce. At first Schindler is only interested in making money, he has no interest in the plight of the Jews. As time passes, however, and he bears witness to the increasing atrocities visited upon the Jews, Schindler, at great risk to himself, begins to use his business as a front for protecting Jews. By the end of the war, Schindler manages to save over 1,100 Jews from almost certain death. Many of the Jews alive in Poland today are direct descendants of "Schindler's Jews".

This film chronicles a small part of one of the largest atrocities exacted upon humankind in the last century. The Jews, who own a history scarred with persecution and prejudice, once more find themselves the target of a nation filled with hatred. The Germans used the Jews as a scapegoat. The Germans drew upon the prejudice that had plagued the Jews for centuries. The Jews were portrayed as untrustworthy, greedy, money-mongers. Furthermore, according to the widely circulated farce "The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion," the most powerful Jews from around the globe had secretly convened and were planning to take over the world by seizing control of the world's monetary supply. The book may have been a lie but it certainly reflected the German, and, for that matter, much of Europe's, view of the Jews. The Jews were persecuted by Christians as the killer of Christ. When religious doctrine was not enough, however, the Germans, led by Adolph Hitler, condemned the social, political, and economical traditions of the Jews as well. He conveniently

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