A Report on Schindler's List Thomas Keneally's Schindler's List is the historical account of Oskar Schindler and his heroic actions amid the horrors of World War II in Poland. Schindler's List tells the story of Oskar Schindler's life and how he comes to Poland in search of material wealth but leaves after saving the lives of over 1100 Jews who surely would have died. The novel focuses on how Schindler comes to the realization that concentration and forced labor camps are wrong and that many people died through no fault of their own. This realization did not happen overnight, but occurred gradually as businessman Oskar Schindler transformed himself into the savior of the Jews who had brought him so much wealth. Schindler's List is not only a biography of Oskar Schindler, but it is the story of how good can overcome evil and how charity can overcome greed. Schindler's List begins with the early life of Oskar Schindler. The novel describes his early family life in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his adolescence in the new state of Czechoslovakia. He talks about his relationship with his father and how his father left his mother. His mother is also described in great detail. Like many southern Germans, she was a devout Catholic. She is described as very upset that her son would take after her ex-husband with his neglect of Catholicism. Oskar never forgave Hans, his father, for abandoning his mother, which is ironic considering Oskar would have done the same to his wife Emilie. In fact, the lives of Hans and Oskar Schindler would become so parallel that the novel describes their relationship as “that of brothers separated by the accident of paternity.” Oskar's relationship with Emilie is also described in detail, as is their marriage. The heart of the novel begins in October 1939, when Oskar Schindler arrives in the Polish city of Krakow. It's been six weeks since the Germans took the city and Schindler sees a great opportunity as any entrepreneur would. For Schindler, Krakow represents a place of unlimited possibilities due to the current economic disorder and cheap labor. Upon his arrival in Krakow he meets Itzak Stern, a Jewish accountant. Schindler is very impressed with Stern for his business savvy and his connections in the business community. Soon Schindler and Stern find themselves at......middle of the paper......day of the total number of Jews in Poland in 1945. This statistic shows how much we will miss Schindler, who died in 1974. Perhaps Keneally shares the Schindlerjuden's remorse for their savior by the way he ends his novel. Keneally ends the novel with the somber phrase: "He was mourned on every continent." Schindler's List had a great effect on me personally. I thought Thomas Keneally did a great job of making the reader feel the events of the time. Perhaps what I found most interesting in Schindler's List is a question of morality. I started asking myself the question: Would I be as heroic as Oskar Schindler if I were in his shoes? I think this is exactly what Keneally wanted us to do; he wanted us to look at ourselves and analyze what's inside. Historically, I find Schindler's List to be very important not only because it chronicles a shameful period in Western civilization, but also because the events that happened in the novel happened just yesterday. After all, fifty years is almost nothing in historical terms. Perhaps the novel's greatest strength is the sense that the events that occurred in Schindler's List actually belong to modern history..