What Makes a Hero
When most people think of a hero, they think of some extraordinary, not an ordinary person with a heart. Oskar Schindler was one such person. The movie Schindler's List, directed by Steven Spielberg, is the story of how one man, Schindler, saved over 1,000 lives, and is a cinematic masterpiece. Spielberg truly brings Schindler to life, with all his good and bad points intact; the movie is very true to life, and gives the viewer an excellent idea of what Schindler was like. What Schindler did by saving so many people has had consequences that far surpass the immediate impact. Doing an analysis if the true life of Oskar Schindler, a point-by-point comparison of the movie against what really happened, and the effects of Schindler's actions on society then and now, allows people to understand the lasting impact a person's actions can have on not only individual people, but society as a whole.
Oskar Schindler was born on April 28, 1908, an ethnic German, to a middle class Catholic family, in Moravia (now known as Svitavy) in the Czech Republic. His family belonged to the German-speaking community in the Sudetenland. While growing up, some of Schindler's schoolmates and childhood friends were Jewish, although he never formed lasting or close friendships with them. He attended German grammar school, and studied engineering, and his family expected him to follow in his father's footsteps and eventually take control of the family farm-machinery plant. Like most of the other German-speaking children in his area, Schindler was a member of Konrad Henlein's Sudeten German party. However, after Germany annexed the Sudetenland in 1938, he joined the Nazi party. ("German Rescuers...").
When Schindler was 18, he...
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...nd actually care for their fellow people, things like the Holocaust would not happen.
Bibliography:
Bulow, Luis, "Oskar Schindler." 1999. On-line. Internet. 27 March 2001. Available: http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fhome8.inet.tele.dk%2Faaaa%2Fschindler2.htm
Bulow, Luis. "Why Did He Do It?" 2001-2003. On-line. Internet. 27 March 2001. Available: http://home19.inet.tele.dk/aaaa/why/why.htm.
"German Rescuers Oskar and Emilie Schindler." Yad Vashem, 2001. On-line. Internet. 27 March 2001. Available: http//www/yad-vashem.org.il/righteous/bycountry/germany/oskar_schindler.html
"Oskar Schindler." Yad Vashem. 2001. On-line. Internet. 27 March 2001. Available: http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/visiting/trees/schindler
Schindler's List. Dir. Steven Spielberg. With Liam Neeson. MCA. 1994.