Steven Spielberg did a brave job with making Schindler’s List (1993). In 1968 MGM bought rights to make a movie from Schindler story, but the project rotted, as many Hollywood ideas do, so they never produced the movie. In 1982 Australian author Thomas Keneally published a novel of historical fiction Schindler’s List, and Steven Spielberg made from it a three-hour movie. Immediately there was an accusation of pasteurizing the horrors of the Holocaust for popular consumption and of rendering history’s greatest horror as entertainment. Nevertheless, the movie introduced viewers to the horrors of the Holocaust and influenced many other films with a similar theme. Below are TOP 5 Schindler’s List Historical Mistakes.
There was no Schindler’s List
By the end the movie we see Oscar Schindler making a list of “essentials” Jews which he will take in Brünnlitz (today Czech Republic) from his Poland factory. This was necessary because Red Army drew nearer and Hitler ordered all Jews, “essential” or not, to the death camps. Schindler and his helper Itzhak Stern, frantically are making the list and they know all the names from a head. Problem is that Oscar Schindler was in prison at that time, and Stern didn’t work for him in that period. Truth is that there were different lists of various authors, but that Schindler had almost nothing to do with the list.
The role of the Poles
Except for last minutes, all action was on the soil of occupied Poland. All the scenes in the film featuring Poles portray them as anti-Semitic Nazi collaborators. While Polish-Jewish relations were often painful during Nazi occupation, Spielberg’s depiction of interactions between Poles and Jews is one-sided and lacks accurate historical context. All Poles in movie collaborate with Nazis; concentration camp guards and doctors are Poles, women in camp shower command them in Polish etc. On the end of the movie, there is a note saying that the Jews Schindler saved and their descendants number is 6,000, while Poland’s present Jewish population is less than 4,000. He failed to mention that by the end of the war there were 350,000 Jews in Poland.
Jews – perfectly submissive, helpless victims
In the movie Jews are shown as perfectly submissive, helpless victims. In one scene we see a group of male Jews lined up for shooting. Nazis line them up so that they can be killed with one bullet, and the group just followed the order. In another scene, a group of women went to the showers knowing that they will be killed by gas. The only resistance shown was when they try to escape from Nazis. This was not the case in Schindler’s Krakow; young Jewish resistance fighters killed several Germans there before Frank’s barbarous ghetto sweep.
The return of women from Auschwitz
While travelling to the safety of Brünnlitz three hundred women ended up in Auschwitz by mistake. They were sent to showers expecting death but end up in the real shower. Schindler went personally to Auschwitz and saved them by bribing the officer with diamonds: It’s just that I know
that in the coming months, we’re all going to need portable wealth“. This was a total fabrication; dramatized to show how that women felt being in Auschwitz. Also, Schindler never went to Auschwitz; according to Emilie Schindler, Schindler’s wife, her husband sent to Auschwitz a female childhood friend identified only as Hilde, to take care of the release of the women. Emilie Schindler described her as beautiful, slender and graceful. It is not necessary to say; the job was done.
Unpleasant character
Oscar Schindler saved approximately 1.200 Jews and his story today is inspirational to all generations. The question is why we didn’t receive ecranisation of his story, and the reason is in his character. Schindler came to Poland as soon as Poland was conquered and took over the business. There are clues that he was in spy for German counterintelligence and involved in planning on Nazi invasion of Poland. Also, there were rumours that he stole from Jews, and ordered them beaten. He wasn’t a stereotypical Hollywood hero who experienced enlightenment and transformed into the hero; He cheated wife on a mass scale, and spend all money on booze and women.
Spielberg showed more human side. He even showed Schindler transformation in saviour when he saw “girl in red”.
Spielberg didn’t mention that Schindler sold his gold ring, a gift from saved Jews, and spend money to buy booze.
 but his movie is based on a book. Check out TOP 5 Schindler's List Historical Mistakes.){kind=link}