Schindlers List Script
Schindlers List Script
Screenplay by
STEVEN ZAILLIAN
Directed by
STEVEN SPIELBERG
First Revision
March, 1990
CLERKS (V.O.)
... Rossen ... Lieberman ... Wachsberg ...
CLERKS (V.O.)
... When your name is called go over there ...
take this over to that table ...
CLERKS (V.O.)
... you're in the wrong line, wait
over there ... you, come over here...
A MAN is taken from one long line and led to the back of another.
A HAND hammers a rubber stamp at a form. Tihgt on a FACE. KEYS
type another NAME. Another FACE. Another NAME.
CLERKS (V.O.)
... Biberman ... Steinberg ... Chilowitz ...
As a hand comes down stamping a GRAY STRIPE across a registration
card, there is absolute silence ... then MUSIC, the Hungarian
love song, "Gloomy Sunday," distant ... and the stripe bleeds
into COLOR, into BRIGHT YELLOW INK.
The hands of a man button the shirt, belt the slacks. He slips
into the double-breasted jacket, knots the silk tie, folds a
handkerchief and tucks it into the jacket pocket, all with great
deliberation.
WAITER
From the gentleman.
LIEUTENANT
Do I know him?
LIEUTENANT
Find out who he is.
The lieutenant waits, but his man doesn't come back; he's
forgotten already he went there for a reason. Finally, and it
irritates the SS man, he has to get up and go over there.
LIEUTENANT
Stay here.
LIEUTENANT
Let me get this one.
SCHINDLER
No, put it away, put it away.
Schindler's already got his money out. Even as he's paying, his
eyes are working the room, settling on a table where a girl is
declining the advances of two more high-ranking SS men.
A TABLECLOTH BILLOWS
SCHINDLER
What are you drinking, gin?
SS OFFICER 1
Who is that?
SS OFFICER 2
(like everyone knows)
That's Oskar Schindler. He's an old
friend of ... I don't know, somebody's.
CLERKS
Groder ... Gemeinerowa ... Libeskind ...
SCHINDLER
Stern?
SCHINDLER
Are you Itzhak Stern?
At the door of this apartment, a man with the face and manner of
a Talmudic scholar, finally nods in resignation, like his number
has just come up.
STERN
I am.
SCHINDLER
There's a company you did the books for
on Lipowa Street, made what, pots and pans?
STERN
(pause)
By law, I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew.
SCHINDLER
All right, you've done it -
good company, you think?
STERN
It did all right.
SCHINDLER
I don't know anything about enamelware,
do you?
STERN
I was just the accountant.
SCHINDLER
Simple engineering, though, wouldn't
you think? Change the machines around,
whatever you do, you could make
other things, couldn't you?
SCHINDLER
Army contracts.
SCHINDLER
Once the war ends, forget it, but for now
it's great, you could make a fortune.
Don't you think?
STERN
(with an edge)
I think most people right now have
other priorities.
SCHINDLER
Like what?
STERN
Get the contracts and I'm sure you'll do
very well. In fact the worse things get
the better you'll do. It was a "pleasure."
SCHINDLER
The contracts? That's the easy part.
Finding the money to buy the company,
that's hard.
SCHINDLER
You know anybody?
SCHINDLER
Jews, yeah. Investors.
STERN
(pause)
Jews can no longer own businesses, sir,
that's why this one's for sale.
SCHINDLER
Well, they wouldn't own it, I'd own it.
I'd pay them back in product. They can
trade it on the black market, do whatever
they want, everybody's happy.
STERN
Pots and pans.
SCHINDLER
(nodding)
Something they can hold in their hands.
Stern studies him. This man is nothing more than a salesman with
a salesman's pitch; just dressed better than most.
STERN
I don't know anybody who'd be
interested in that.
SCHINDLER
(a slow knowing nod)
They should be.
Silence.
The young Polish Jew from the street, Poldek Pfefferberg, kneels,
crosses himself, and slides in next to another young man,
Goldberg, going over notes scribbled on a little pad inside a
missal. Pfefferberg shows him a container of shoe polish he
takes from his pocket. Whispered, bored -
GOLDBERG
What's that?
PFEFFERBERG
You don't recognize it? Maybe that's
because it's not what I asked for.
GOLDBERG
You asked for shoe polish.
PFEFFERBERG
My buyers sold it to a guy who sold it to
the Army. But by the time it got there -
because of the cold - it broke, the whole
truckload.
GOLDBERG
(pause)
So I'm responsible for the weather?
PFEFFERBERG
I asked for metal, you gave me glass.
GOLDBERG
This is not my problem.
PFEFFERBERG
Look it up.
PFEFFERBERG
This is not your problem? Everybody
wants to know who I got it from,
and I'm going to tell them.
GOLDBERG
Metal.
PFEFFERBERG
That's a nice shirt.
SCHINDLER
You don't know where I could find
a shirt like that.
Pfefferberg knows he should say 'no,' let that be the end of it.
It's not wise doing business with a German who could have you
arrested for no reason whatsoever. But there's something
guileless about it.
PFEFFERBERG
Like this?
SCHINDLER
(nodding)
There's nothing in the stores.
PFEFFERBERG
You have any idea what a shirt
like this costs?
SCHINDLER
Nice things cost money.
The clerk tries to tell Pfefferberg again with a look that this
isn't smart.
PFEFFERBERG
How many?
SCHINDLER
I don't know, ten or twelve. That's
a good color. Dark blues, grays.
Schindler takes out his money and begins peeling off bills,
waiting for Pfefferberg to nod when it's enough. He's being
overcharged, and he knows it, but Pfefferberg keeps pushing it,
more. The look Schindler gives him lets him know that he's
trying to hustle a hustler, but that, in this instance at least,
he'll let it go. He hands over the money and Pfefferberg hands
over his notepad.
PFEFFERBERG
Write down your measurements.
SCHINDLER
I'm going to need some other things.
As things come up.
CZURDA
The SS doesn't own the trains,
somebody's got to pay. Whether it's
a passenger car or a livestock car,
it doesn't matter - which, by the way,
you have to see. You have to set aside
an afternoon, go down to the station
and see this.
CZURDA
So you got thousands of fares that
have to be paid. Since it's the SS that's
reserved the trains, logically they
should pay. But this is a lot of money.
(pause)
The Jews. They're the ones riding the
trains, they should pay. So you got Jews
paying their own fares to ride on
cattle cars to God knows where. They
pay the SS full fare, the SS turns around,
pays the railroad a reduced excursion
fare, and pockets the difference.
Schindler appears, takes the reins from the stable boy, hands one
set to the bride and the other to the groom.
SCHINDLER
There's nothing more sacred than
marriage. No happier an occasion than
one's wedding day. I wish you
all the best.
OWNER
I go to the bank, I go in, they tell me
my account's been placed in Trust.
In Trust? What are they talking about,
whose Trust? The Germans'. I look
around. Now I see that everybody's
arguing, they can't get to their money
either.
MAX REDLICHT
This is true?
OWNER
I'll take you there.
Max looks at the man not without sympathy. He's never heard of
such a thing. It's really a bad deal. But then -
MAX REDLICHT
Let me understand. The Nazis have
taken your money. So because they've
done this to you, you expect me to go
unpaid. That's what you're saying.
MAX REDLICHT
That makes sense to you?
The man doesn't answer. He watches Max get up and cross to the
front door where he says something to two of his guys and leaves.
The guys come in and start carting out anything of any value:
cash register, a chair, a loaf of bread ...
They're made to stand before the Ark in two lines: Orthodox and
non. One of the Einsatzgruppen squad removes the parchment Torah
scroll while another calmly addresses the assembly:
EINSATZ NCO
I want you to spit on it. I want you to
walk past, spit on it, and stand over there.
No one does anything for a moment. The liberals from the street
seem to say with their eyes, Come on, we're all too sophisticated
for this; the others, with the beards and sidelocks, silently
check with their rabbi.
One by one then they file past and spit on the scroll. The last
two, the rabbi and Max Redlicht hesitate. They exchange a
glance. The rabbi finally does it; the gangster doesn't. after
a long tense silence.
MAX REDLICHT
I haven't been to temple must be
fifty years.
(to the rabbi)
Nor have I been invited.
The Einsatz NCO glances from Max to the rabbi and smiles to
himself. This is unexpected, this rift.
MAX REDLICHT
(to the rabbi)
You don't approve of the way I
make my living? I'm a bad man,
I do bad things?
Max admits it with a shrug.
MAX REDLICHT
I've done some things ... but I won't
do this.
EINSATZ NCO
What does this mean? Of all of you, there's
only one who has the guts to say no?
One? And he doesn't even believe?
(no one, of course answer him)
I come in here, I ask you to do something
no one should ever ask. And you do it?
(pause)
What won't you do?
EINSATZ NCO
You, sir, I respect.
He pulls out a revolver and shoots the old gangster in the head.
He's dead before he hits the floor.
EINSATZ NCO
The rest of you ...
... are beneath his contempt. He turns and walks away. The
other Einsatz Boys pull rifles and revolvers from their coats and
open fire.
POLISH GIRL
Goodbye, Jews.
PFEFFERBERG
What's this?
Pfefferberg, with his wife Mila, at the head of a line that seems
to stretch back forever, flicks at Goldberg's OD armband with
disgust.
GOLDBERG
Ghetto Police. I'm a policeman now,
can you believe it?
PFEFFERBERG
Yeah, I can.
SCHINDLER
For each thousand you invest, you take
from the loading dock five hundred kilos
of product a month - to begin in July
and to continue for one year - after
which time, we're even.
(he shrugs)
That's it.
He lets them think about it, pours a shot of cognac from his
flask, offers it to Stern, who brought this group together and
now sits at Schindler's side. The accountant declines.
INVESTOR 1
Not good enough.
SCHINDLER
Not good enough? Look where you're
living. Look where you've been put.
"Not good enough."
(he almost laughs at
the squalor)
A couple of months ago, you'd be right.
Not anymore.
INVESTOR 1
Money's still money.
SCHINDLER
No, it isn't, that's why we're here.
SCHINDLER
Did I call this meeting? You told
Mr. Stern you wanted to speak to me.
I'm here. Now you want to negotiate?
The offer's withdrawn.
He caps his flask, pockets it, reaches for his top coat.
INVESTOR 2
How do we know you'll do what you say?
SCHINDLER
Because I said I would. What do you
want, a contract? To be filed where?
(he slips into his coat)
I said what I'll do, that's our contract.
STERN
The standard SS rate for Jewish skilled
labor is seven Marks a day, five for
unskilled and women. This is what you
pay the Economic Office, the laborers
themselves receive nothing. Poles you
pay wages. Generally, they get a little
more. Are you listening?
SCHINDLER
What was that about the SS, the rate,
the ... ?
STERN
The Jewish worker's salary, you pay it
directly to the SS, not to the worker.
He gets nothing.
SCHINDLER
But it's less. It's less than what I would
pay a Pole. That's the point I'm trying to
make. Poles cost more.
SCHINDLER
Why should I hire Poles?
TEACHER
I'm a teacher.
CLERK
Not essential work, stand over there.
TEACHER
I'm a metal polisher.
CLERK
Good.
SCHERNER
I'd never ask you for money, you know that.
I don't even like talking about it -
money, favors - I find it very awkward,
it makes me very uncomfortable -
SCHINDLER
No, look. It's the others. They're the
ones causing these delays.
SCHERNER
What others?
SCHINDLER
Whoever. They're the ones. They'd
appreciate some kind of gesture from me.
SCHERNER
That'd be fine.
SCHINDLER
Done. Lets not talk about it anymore,
let's have a good time.
Men and pulleys hoist a big "F" up the side of the building.
Down below, Schindler watches as the letter is set into place -
D.E.F.
Stern with a woman at the head of a line. The clerk affixes the
all-important blue sticker to her work card.
Three hundred Jewish laborers, men and women, work at the long
tables, at the presses, the latches, the furnaces, turning out
field kitchenware and mess kits.
Few glance up from their work at Schindler, the big gold party
pin stuck into his lapel, as he moves through the place, his
place, his factory, in full operation.
SCHINDLER
Sit down.
SCHINDLER
Oh, come on.
He comes over and puts the drink in Stern's hand, moves behind
his desk and sits.
SCHINDLER
My father was fond of saying you need
three things in life. A good doctor, a
forgiving priest and a clever accountant.
The first two ...
He dismisses them with a shrug; he's never had much use for
either. But the third - he raises his glass to the accountant.
Stern's glass stays in his lap.
SCHINDLER
(long sufferingly)
Just pretend for Christ's sake.
SCHINDLER
Thank you.
KLONOWSKA
Yes?
SCHINDLER (O.S.)
Who is it?
SCHINDLER
She's so embarrassed - look at her -
SCHINDLER
You know what, you'd like her.
EMILIE
Oskar, please -
SCHINDLER
What -
EMILIE
I don't have to like her just because
you do. It doesn't work that way.
SCHINDLER
You would, though. That's what
I'm saying.
His face is complete innocence. It's the first thing she fell in
love with; and perhaps the thing that keeps her from killing him
now. Klonowska emerges from the bedroom thoroughly self-
conscious.
KLONOWSKA
Goodbye. It was a pleasure meeting you.
She shakes Emilie's limp hand. Schindler sees her to the door,
lets her out and returns to the table, smiling to himself.
Emilie's glancing around at the place.
EMILIE
You've done well here.
SCHINDLER
You look great.
DOORMAN
Careful of the pavement -
SCHINDLER
- Mrs. Schindler.
A nice place. "No Jews or Dogs Allowed." The maitre 'd welcomes
the couple warmly, shakes Schindler's hand. Nodding to his date
-
SCHINDLER
Mrs. Schindler.
EMILIE
It's not a charade, all this?
SCHINDLER
A charade? How could it be a charade?
She doesn't know, but she does know him. And all these signs of
apparent success just don't fit his profile. Schindler lets her
in on a discovery.
SCHINDLER
There's no way I could have known this
before, but there was always something
missing. In every business I tried, I see
now it wasn't me that was failing, it was
this thing, this missing thing. Even if
I'd known what it was, there's nothing I
could have done about it, because you can't
create this sort of thing. And it makes all
the difference in the world between
success and failure.
He waits for her to guess what the thing is. His looks says,
It's so simple, how can you not know?
EMILIE
Luck.
SCHINDLER
War.
SCHINDLER
What?
EMILIE
I feel like an old-fashioned couple.
It feels good.
He smiles, even as his eyes roam the room and find and meet the
eyes of a German girl dancing with another man.
EMILIE
Should I stay?
SCHINDLER
(pause)
It's a beautiful city.
That's not the answer she's looking for and he knows it.
EMILIE
Should I stay?
SCHINDLER
(pause)
It's up to you.
That's not it either.
EMILIE
No, it's up to you.
EMILIE
Promise me no doorman or maitre 'd
will presume I am anyone other than
Mrs. Schindler ... and I'll stay.
CLERKS
Your luggage will follow you. Make sure
it's clearly labeled. Leave your luggage
on the platform.
More to Stern -
FOREMAN
Every other time it's been all right.
This time when I weigh the truck,
I see he's heavy, he's loaded too much.
I point this out to him, I tell him to
wait, he tells me he's got a new
arrangement with Mr. Schindler -
(to Schindler)
- that you know all about it and
it's okay with you.
SCHINDLER
It's "okay" with me?
FOREMAN
Not that much, just too much for it
to be a mistake - 200 kilos.
SCHINDLER
(pause)
You're sure.
WOMAN AT DESK
Can I help you?
They move past her without a word and into the back of the place,
into a storeroom. They stride past long racks full of enamelware
and other goods.
SCHINDLER
If you or anyone acting as an agent
for you comes to my factory again,
I'll have you arrested.
INVESTOR
It was a mistake.
SCHINDLER
It was a mistake? What was a mistake?
How do you know what I'm talking about?
INVESTOR
All right, it wasn't a mistake, but
it was one time.
SCHINDLER
We had a deal, you broke it. One
phone call and your whole family
is dead.
He turns and walks away. Pfefferberg lets the guy go and
follows. The investor's sons help their father up off the floor.
Gasping, he yells.
INVESTOR
I gave you money.
SCHINDLER
How you feeling, all right?
PFEFFERBERG
Yeah.
SCHINDLER
What's the matter, everything
all right at home?
(Pfefferberg nods)
Mila's okay?
PFEFFERBERG
She's good.
SCHINDLER
Good.
The long tables accommodate most of workers. The rest eat their
lunch on the floor. Soup and bread.
SCHINDLER
I could try to read this or I could eat
my lunch while it's till hot. We're
doing well?
STERN
Yes.
SCHINDLER
Better this month than last?
STERN
Yes.
SCHINDLER
Any reason to think next month
will be worse?
STERN
The war could end.
SCHINDLER
(impatient)
What?
STERN
(pause)
There's a machinist outside who'd
like to thank you personally for
giving him a job.
STERN
He asks every day. It'll just take
a minute. He's very grateful.
STERN
Mr. Lowenstein?
An old man with one arm appears in the doorway and Schindler
glances to the ceiling, to heaven. As the man slowly makes his
way into the room, Schinder sees the bruises on his face. And
when he speaks, only half his mouth moves; the other half is
paralyzed.
LOWENSTEIN
I want to thank you, sir, for
giving me the opportunity to work.
SCHINDLER
You're welcome, I'm sure you're
doing a great job.
SCHINDLER
That's great.
LOWENSTEIN
I work hard for you. I'll continue to
work hard for you.
SCHINDLER
That's great, thanks.
LOWENSTEIN
God bless you, sir.
SCHINDLER
Yeah, okay.
LOWENSTEIN
You're a good man.
Schindler is dying, and telling Stern with his eyes, Get this guy
out of here. Stern takes the man's arm.
STERN
Okay, Mr. Lowenstein.
LOWENSTEIN
He saved my life.
STERN
Yes, he did.
LOWENSTEIN
God bless him.
STERN
Yes.
They disappear out the door. Schindler sits down to his meal.
And tries to eat it.
Stern and Schindler emerge from the rear of the factory. The
Mercedes is waiting, the back door held open by a driver.
Climbing in -
SCHINDLER
Don't ever do that to me again.
STERN
Do what?
Stern knows what he means. And Schindler knows he knows.
SCHINDLER
Close the door.
TOFFEL
It's got nothing to do with reality,
Oskar, I know it and you know it,
it's a matter of national priority to
these guys. It's got a ritual significance
to them, Jews shoveling snow.
SCHINDLER
I lost a day of production. I lost a
worker. I expect to be compensated.
TOFFEL
File a grievance with the Economic
Office, it's your right.
SCHINDLER
Would it do any good?
TOFFEL
No.
Schindler knows it's not Toffel's fault, but the whole situation
is maddening to him. He shakes his head in disgust.
TOFFEL
I think you're going to have to put up
with a lot of snow shoveling yet.
Schindler gets up, shakes Toffel's hand, turns to leave.
TOFFEL
A one-armed machinist, Oskar?
SCHINDLER
(right back)
He was a metal press operator,
quite skilled.
Stern's doing all the talking, in his usual quiet but persuasive
manner. Every so often, Schindler, glancing from his own factory
to the others, nods.
The party pins the two other German businessmen wear are nothing
compared to the elaborate thing in Schindler's lapel. He sits at
his desk sipping cognac, a large portrait of Hitler hanging
prominently on the wall behind him.
SCHINDLER
Unlike your radiators - and your boxes -
my products aren't for sale on the open
market. This company has only one
client, the German Army. And lately
I've been having trouble fulfilling my
obligations to my client. With your
help, I hope the problem can be solved.
The problem, simply, is space.
Stern, who has been keeping a low profile, hands the gentlemen
each a set of documents.
SCHINDLER
I'd like you to consider a proposal which
I think you'll find equitable. I'd like you
to think about it and get back to me
as soon as -
KUHNPAST
Excuse me - do you really think this is
appropriate?
The man glances to Stern, and back to Schindler, his look saying,
This is wrong, having a Jew present while we discuss business.
If Schindler catches his meaning, he doesn't admit it. Kuhnpast
almost sighs.
KUHNPAST
I can appreciate your problem. If I had
any space I could lease you, I would.
I don't. I'm sorry.
HOHNE
Me neither, sorry.
SCHINDLER
I don't want to lease your facilities,
I want to buy them. I'm prepared to
offer you fair market value. And to let
you stay on, if you want, as supervisors.
(pause)
On salary.
KUHNPAST
You've got to be kidding.
Nobody is kidding.
KUHNPAST
(pause)
Thanks for the drink.
He sets it down, gets up. Hohne gets up. They return the
documents to Stern and turn to leave. They aren't quite out the
door when Schindler wonders out loud to Stern:
SCHINDLER
You try to be fair to people, they walk
out the door; I've never understood
that. What's next?
STERN
Christmas presents.
SCHINDLER
Ah, yes.
The businessmen slow, but don't look back into the room.
SCHERNER
Oskar ...
56. EXT. KUHNPAST'S RADIATOR FACTORY - DAY. 56.
Workers high on the side of the building toss down the letters of
the radiator sign as others hoist up a big "D." Under armed
guard, others unload a metal press machine from a truck.
Crowded beyond belief, the place is like a post office gone mad.
Stern, moving along one of the impossibly crowded lines, pauses
to speak with an elderly couple.
SCHINDLER
All right.
GESTAPO (O.S.)
Oskar Schindler?
GESTAPO
We have a warrant to take your
company's business records with us.
And another to take you.
SCHINDLER
Am I permitted to have my secretary
cancel my appointments for the day?
GESTAPO CLERK
You live very well.
GESTAPO CLERK
This standard of living comes entirely
from legitimate sources, I take it?
Schindler lights the cigarette and drags on it, all but ignoring
the man.
GESTAPO CLERK
As an SS supplier, you have a moral
obligation to desist from blackmarket
dealings. You're in business to support
the war effort, not to fatten -
SCHINDLER
(interrupting)
You know? When my friends ask,
I'd love to be able to tell them you
treated me with the utmost courtesy
and respect.
The two who arrested him lead Schindler down a long hallway.
They reach a door, have him step inside and close the door after
him.
WAFFEN GUARD
Yes, sir.
SCHINDLER
Wait a minute.
SCHINDLER
Pajamas.
GUARD
I'm sorry to disturb you, sir.
Whenever you're ready, you're
free to leave.
GESTAPO CLERK
I'd advise you not to get too comfortable.
Sooner or later, law prevails. No matter
who your friends are.
SCHINDLER
You expect me to walk home, or what?
GESTAPO CLERK
(tightly)
Bring a car around for Mr. Schindler.
SCHINDLER
If you'd return the ledgers to my office
I'd appreciate it.
SCHINDLER
Excuse me - hey -
(the guy turns)
They're working.
The guy just stares. Finally he heads off with the ledgers. The
poodle bounds out past him and over to Schindler. He gives the
dog a pat on the head.
CLERK
Itzhak Stern?
(Schindler nods)
He's on the list.
SCHINDLER
He is.
The clerk shows him the list, points out the name to him.
SCHINDLER
Well, let's find him.
CLERK
He's on the list. If he were an essential
worker, he would not be on the list.
He's on the list. You can't have him.
SCHINDLER
I'm talking to a clerk.
Schindler pulls out a small notepad and drops his voice to a hard
murmur, the growl of a reasonable man who isn't ready - yet - to
bring out his heavy guns:
SCHINDLER
What's your name?
CLERK
Sir, the list is correct.
SCHINDLER
I didn't ask you about the list,
I asked you your name.
CLERK
Klaus Tauber.
CLERK
The gentleman thinks a mistake's been made.
SCHINDLER
My plant manager is somewhere on this train.
If it leaves with him on it, it'll disrupt
production and the Armaments Board will
want to know why.
The sergeant takes a good hard look at the clothes, at the pin,
at the man wearing them.
SERGEANT
(to the clerk)
Is he on the list?
CLERK
Yes, sir.
SERGEANT
(to Schindler)
The list is correct, sir. There's nothing
I can do.
SCHINDLER
May as well get your name while you're here.
SERGEANT
My name? My name is Kunder.
Sergeant Kunder. What's yours?
SCHINDLER
Schindler.
The sergeant takes out a pad. Now all three of them have lists.
He jots down Schindler's name. Schindler jots down his and flips
the pad closed.
SCHINDLER
Sergeant, Mr. Tauber, thank you very much.
I think I can guarantee you you'll both be in
Southern Russia before the end of the month.
Good evening.
He walks away, back toward his car. The clerk and sergeant
smile. But slowly, slowly, the smiles sour at the possibility
that this man calmly walking away from them could somehow arrange
such a fate ...
- Schindler, the clerk and the sergeant - stride along the side
of the cars. Two of them are calling out loudly -
SCHINDLER
There he is.
SERGEANT
Open it.
Guards yank at a lever, slide the gate open. Stern climbs down.
the clerk draws a line through his name on the list and hands the
clipboard to Schindler.
CLERK
Initial it, please.
(Schindler initials the change)
And this ...
CLERK
It makes no difference to us, you understand -
this one, that one. It's the inconvenience to
the list. It's the paperwork.
STERN
I somehow left my work card at home.
I tried to tell them it was a mistake,
but they -
STERN
I'm sorry. It was stupid.
(contrite)
Thank you.
Schindler turns away and heads for the car. Stern hurries after
him. They pass an area where all the luggage, carefully tagged,
has been left - the image becoming BLACK and WHITE.
Moving along with one of the handcarts into a huge garage past
racks of clothes, each item tagged, past musical instruments,
furniture, paintings, against one wall - children's toys, sorted
by size.
GOETH
Make a nice driveway.
The staff car passes through the portals of the ghetto and down
the trolley lines of Lwowska Street.
As the car slowly cruises through the ghetto, Knude, like a tour
guide, briefs the new man, Goeth -
KNUDE
This street divides the ghetto just about
in half. On the right - Ghetto A: civil
employees, industry workers, so on. On the
left, Ghetto B: surplus labor, the elderly
mostly. Which is where you'll probably
want to start.
KNUDE
Of course that's entirely up to you.
Goeth surveys the site from a knoll, clearly pleased with it.
But then he's distracted by voices - a man's, a woman's - arguing
down where some barracks are being erected.
The woman breaks off the dialog with a disgusted wave of her hand
and stalks back to a half-finished barracks. The man, one from
the car, Hujar, sees Goeth, Knude and Haase coming down the hill
and moves to meet them.
HUJAR
She says the foundation was poured wrong,
she's got to take it down. I told her it's a
barracks, not a fucking hotel, fucking Jew
engineer.
Goeth watches the woman moving around the shell of the building,
pointing, directing, telling the workers to take it all down. he
goes to take a closer look. She comes over.
ENGINEER
The entire foundation has to be dug up
and repoured. If it isn't, the thing will
collapse before it's even completed.
GOETH
(calmly)
Shoot her.
It's hard to tell which is more stunned by the order, the woman
or Hujar. Both stare at Goeth in disbelief. He gives her the
reason along with a shurg -
GOETH
You argued with my man.
(to Hujar)
Shoot her.
Hujar unholsters his pistol but holds it limply at his side. The
workers become aware of what's happening and still their hammers.
HUJAR
Sir...
Goeth groans and takes the gun from him and puts it to the
woman's head. Calmly to her -
GOETH
I'm sure you're right.
GOETH
That's somebody who knew what they
were doing. That's somebody I needed.
(pause)
Take it down, repour it, rebuild it,
like she said.
Stable boys lead two horses into the pre-dawn light. The
animals' hoofs shatter tufts of weeds like fingers of glass; fog
plumes from their nostrils.
The stable boys hoist saddles onto the horses, cinch the straps.
Leaning against the hood of the Mercedes, Schindler and Ingrid,
in long hacking jackets, riding breeches and boots, share cognac
from his flask.
GOETH
Today is history. The young will ask
with wonder about this day. Today is
history and you are a part of it.
80. EXT. PEACE SQUARE, GHETTO - DAWN. 80.
GOETH (V.O.)
When, elsewhere, they were footing the
blame for the Black Death, Kazimierz the
Great, so called, told the Jews they could
come to Cracow. They came.
Ingrid climbs onto one of the horses, Schindler onto the other.
As the animals gallop away with their riders toward a wood, the
stable boys wave.
GOETH (V.O.)
They trundled their belongings into this
city, they settled, they took hold,
they prospered.
GOETH
For six centuries, there has been a
Jewish Cracow.
GOETH
By this weekend, those six centuries,
they're a rumor. They never happened.
Today is history.
85. EXT. HILLTOP CLEARING - DAWN.
85.
Schindler smiles at the view, the beauty of it with the sun just
coming up. From here, all of Cracow can be seen in striking
relief, like a model of a town.
He can see the Vistula, the river that separates the ghetto from
Kazimierz; Wawel Castle, from where the National Socialist
Party's Hans Frank rules the Government General of Poland; beyond
it, the center of town.
The wheels of the last truck clear the portals at Lwowska Street
and the Sonderkommandos jump down.
From here, the action down below seems staged, unreal; the rifle
bursts no louder than caps. Dismounting, Schindler moves closer
to the edge of the hill, curious.
She climbs the stairs. The building is empty. She steps inside
an apartment and moves through it. It's been ransacked. As she
crawls under the bed, the scene DRAINS of COLOR.
Below, the ghetto lies like a void within the city, its perimeter
and interior clearly distinguishable by darkness. Outside it,
the lights of the rest of Cracow glimmer.
Tables and tools and enamelware scrap. The metal presses and
lathes, still. The firing ovens, cold. The gauges at zero.
Amon Goeth stirs, wakes, glances at the woman asleep beside him.
Hungover, he drags himself slowly out of bed.
Goeth steps out onto the balcony in his undershirt and shorts and
peers out across the labor camp, his labor camp, his kingdom.
Satisfied with it, even amazed, he's reminiscent of Schindler
looking down on his kingdom, his factory, as he loves to do, from
his wall of glass.
The butt of the rifle against his shoulder, Goeth aims down at
the quarry - at this worker, at that one - indiscriminately,
inscrutably. He fires a shot and a distant figure falls.
MAJOLA
(mutters)
Amon ... Christ ...
A patio table set with crystal, china, silver. Goeth and Hujar
are there, in pressed SS uniforms, and two industrialists, Bosch
and Madritsch. One chair is empty.
HUJAR
Your machinery will be moved and installed
by the SS at no cost to you. You will pay
no rent, no maintenance -
SCHINDLER
No, no, come on, sit -
He works his way around the table, patting Bosch and Madritsch on
the back - he knows them - shaking Hujar's hand, who he doesn't
know. He reaches Goeth.
SCHINDLER
How you doing?
Goeth takes a good long look at the handsomely dressed
entrepreneur and allows him to shake his hand.
GOETH
We started without you.
SCHINDLER
Good.
Schindler takes a seat, shakes a napkin onto his lap, nods to the
servant holding out a bottle of champagne to him.
SCHINDLER
Please.
SCHINDLER
I miss anything important?
HUJAR
I was explaining to Mr. Bosch and
Mr. Madritsch some of the benefits of
moving their factories into Plaszow.
SCHINDLER
Oh, good, yeah.
HUJAR
Since your labor is housed on-site,
it's available to you at all times. You can
work them all night if you want. Your
factory policies, whatever they've been
in the past, they'll continue to be,
they'll be respected -
Schindler laughs out loud, cutting Hujar off. Hujar glances over
to Goeth nonplussed.
SCHINDLER
I'm sorry.
He's not sorry at all, and starts in on the plate of food that's
set down in front of him.
GOETH
You know, they told me you were
going to be trouble - Czurda and Scherner.
SCHINDLER
You're kidding.
SCHINDLER
I'd say I'd get you one but the guy who
made it, he's probably dead, I don't know.
He shrugs like, Those are the breaks, too bad. Goeth just
smiles. The others watch the two of them, unsure how they're
supposed to react.
The others have gone. It's just Goeth and Schindler now. Goeth
pours glasses of cognac.
GOETH
Something wonderful's happened, do you
know what it is? Without planning it, we've
reached that happy point in our careers
where duty and financial opportunity meet.
SCHINDLER
I go to work the other day, there's nobody
there. Nobody tells me about this, I have to
find out, I have to go in, everybody's gone -
GOETH
They're not gone, they're here.
SCHINDLER
They're mine!
SCHINDLER
Every day that goes by, I'm losing money.
Every worker that is shot, costs me
money - I have to get somebody else,
I have to train them -
GOETH
We're going to be making so much money,
none of this is going to matter -
SCHINDLER
(cutting him off)
It's bad business.
GOETH
(shrugs)
Some of the boys went crazy,
what're you going to do? You're right,
it's bad business, but it's over with,
it's done.
(pause)
Occasionally, sure, okay, you got to
make an example. But that's good
business.
Schindler pours himself another shot from the bottle, nurses it.
He's in a foul mood. They study each other, trying to determine
perhaps who's more powerful. Eventually -
GOETH
Scherner told me something else about you.
SCHINDLER
Yeah, what's that?
GOETH
That you know the meaning of the word
gratitude. That it's not some vague thing
with you like with some guys.
SCHINDLER
True.
GOETH
You want to stay where you are. You got
things going on the side, things are good,
you don't want anybody telling you what
to do - I can understand all that.
(pause)
What you want is your own sub-camp.
GOETH
Do you have any idea what's involved?
The paperwork alone? Forget you got to
build it all, getting the fucking permits,
that's enough to drive you crazy. Then the
engineers show up. They stand around
and they argue about drainage - I'm
telling you, you'll want to shoot somebody,
I've been through it, I know.
SCHINDLER
Well, you've been through it. You know.
You could make things easier for me.
SS OFFICER
You have the Poles beat the Czechs,
you have the Czechs beat the Poles,
that way everybody stays in line.
SCHINDLER
All I have is Jews.
He shrugs, Too bad, what're you going to do? The SS guy has to
think. Yeah, that's a problem. Two huge leashed dogs yank
another SS man across their path.
Where once they glimpsed the not too threatening figure of Oskar
Schindler strolling through the factory, the workers who dare
glance up now find armed guards moving past. And further up,
behind the wall of windows, Schindler moving around, entertaining
SS officer.
LEO JOHN
- she's seventy years old, she's been
there forever - they bomb her house.
Everything's gone. The furniture,
everything.
SCHINDLER
(well aware the man
is lying)
Thank God she wasn't there.
'
Schindler, with yet another girl on his arm, endures the
officer's lies while sweeping the room with his eyes.
LEO JOHN
I was thinking maybe you could help
her out. Some plates and mugs, some
stew pots, I don't know. Say half a
gross of everything?
SCHINDLER
She run an orphanage, your aunt?
LEO JOHN
She's old. What she can't use maybe
she can sell.
SCHINDLER
You want it sent directly to her or
through you?
LEO JOHN
Through me, I think. I'd like to
enclose a card.
Schindler nods, Done. Both watch his date across the room
getting a drink. As usual, she's the best-looking on there.
LEO JOHN
Your wife must be a saint.
SCHINDLER
She is.
GOETH'S GIRL
You're not a soldier?
SCHINDLER
No, dear.
CZURDA
There's a picture. Private Schindler?
Blanket around his shoulders over in Kharkov?
Everyone laughs.
GOETH
Happened to what's his name - up in Warsaw -
and he was bigger than you, Oskar.
CZURDA
Toebbens.
GOETH
Happened to Toebbens. Almost. Himmler
goes up to Warsaw, tells the armament guys,
"Get the fucking Jews out of Toebbens'
factory and put Toebbens in the army," and -
"and sent him to the Front." I mean, the
Front.
Everybody laughs.
GOETH
It's true. Never happen in Cracow, though,
we all love you too much.
SCHINDLER
I pay you too much.
SCHINDLER
You held back Stern. You held back the
one man most important to my business.
GOETH
He's important to my business.
SCHINDLER
What do you want for him, I'll give it to you.
GOETH
I want him.
(turning back)
Come on, let's go inside, let's have
a good time.
SCHINDLER
Here.
SCHINDLER
This, I don't know, maybe you can
trade it for something.
STERN
Thank you.
Schindler shrugs, It's the least I can do. The two stand around
a moment more before Schindler shrugs again, Sorry I can't do
more. He reaches out, pats Stern on the shoulder, and, turning
to leave.
SCHINDLER
I got to go, I'll see you.
STERN
Oskar -
STERN
There's a guy. This thing happened.
Goeth came into the metalworks -
CUT TO:
GOETH
What are you making?
Not daring to look up, all the worker sees of Goeth is the
starched cuff of his shirt.
LEVARTOV
Hinges, sir.
GOETH
I got some workers coming in tomorrow ...
Where the hell they from again?
GOLDBERG
Yugoslavia.
GOETH
Yugoslavia. I got to make room.
GOETH
Make me a hinge.
GOETH
Another.
GOETH
That's very good. What I don't understand,
though, is - you've been working since what,
about six this morning? Yet such a small
pile of hinges?
GOETH
(mumble)
Christ -
GOETH
God damn it -
He slams the weapon across Levartov's face and the rabbi slumps
dazed to the floor. Looking up into Goeth's face, he knows it's
not over. As Goeth walks away -
SCHINDLER
The guy can turn out a hinge in less
than a minute? Why the long story?
LEVARTOV
Thank you, sir.
Schindler has to think a moment before he can figure out who the
grateful man is.
SCHINDLER
Oh, yeah. You're welcome.
GOETH
Nobody knows who stole the chicken.
A man walks around with a chicken,
nobody notices this.
GOETH
Still nobody knows.
GOETH
There we go.
Goeth goes over to the boy, and, like a distant relative to a
small child, tries to get him to look at his face.
GOETH
It was you? You committed this crime?
BOY
No, sir.
GOETH
You know who, though.
BOY
Him!
He's pointing at the dead man. And Goeth astonishes the entire
assembly of workers and guards by believing the boy. He returns
the rifle to the guard and walks away. Hujar stares after him,
then knowingly at the boy.
SCHINDLER
Yeah, sure, bring him over.
BOY
Thank you, sir.
SCHINDLER
(distracted)
That's okay.
MECHANIC
Thank -
SCHINDLER
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
GUARD
He won't see you.
SCHINDLER
Miss Krause.
MISS KRAUSE
How do you do?
SCHINDLER
Pernod? Cognac?
MISS KRAUSE
No, thank you.
SCHINDLER
So.
The grace with which she's carried herself up to this point seems
to evaporate as she struggles to find the words she wants.
MISS KRAUSE
They say that no one dies here.
They say your factory is a haven.
They say you are good.
SCHINDLER
Who says that?
MISS KRAUSE
Everyone.
MISS KRAUSE
My name is Regina Perlman, not
Elsa Krause. I've been living in Cracow
on false papers since the ghetto massacre.
(pause)
My parents are in Plaszow. They're old.
They're killing old people in Plaszow now.
They bury them up in the forest. I have
no money. I borrowed these clothes.
Will you bring them here?
Schindler glances back at her, his face hard, cold, and studies
her for a long, long moment before -
SCHINDLER
I don't do that. You've been misled.
I ask one thing: whether or not a worker
has certain skills. That's what I ask and
that's what I care about, get out of my
office.
SCHINDLER
Cry and I'll have you arrested,
I swear to God.
SCHINDLER
People die, it's a fact of life.
Stern has hardly had time to look up from the work on his
desk.
SCHINDLER
He wants to kill everybody? Great.
What am I supposed to do, bring everybody
over? Is that what you think? Yeah, send
them over to Schindler, send them all.
His place is a "haven," didn't you know?
It's not a factory, it's not an enterprise
of any kind, it's a haven for people with no
skills whatsoever.
SCHINDLER
You think I don't know what you're doing?
You're so quiet all the time? I know.
STERN
(with concern)
Are you losing money?
SCHINDLER
No, I'm not losing money, that's not the point.
STERN
What other point is -
SCHINDLER
(interrupts; yells)
It's dangerous. It's dangerous, to me,
personally.
SCHINDLER
You have to understand, Goeth's under
enormous pressure. You have to think of it
in his situation. He's got this whole place
to run, he's responsible for everything that
goes on here, all these people - he's got a lot
of things to worry about. And he's got the
war.
Which brings out the worst in people. Never
the good, always the bad. Always the bad.
But in normal circumstances, he wouldn't
be like this. He'd be all right. There'd be
just the good aspects of him. Which is a
wonderful crook. A guy who loves good food,
good wine, the ladies, making money...
STERN
And killing.
SCHINDLER
I'll admit it's a weakness. I don't think
he enjoys it.
(pause)
All right, he does enjoy it, so what?
What do you expect me to do about it?
STERN
There's nothing you can do. I'm not
asking you to do anything. You came
into my office.
SCHINDLER
Perlman, husband and wife.
SCHINDLER
Give it to Goldberg, have him send them over.
He leaves.
Distant music, Brahms' lullaby, from the Rosner Brothers way down
by the women's barracks calming the inhabitants. Up here on the
balcony, Schindler and Goeth, the latter so drunk he can barely
stand up, stare out over Goeth's dark kingdom.
SCHINDLER
They don't fear us because we have the power
to kill, they fear us because we have the power
to kill arbitrarily. A man commits a crime, he
should know better. We have him killed, we
feel
pretty good about it. Or we kill him ourselves
and we feel even better. That's not power,
though, that's justice. That's different than
power. Power is when we have every
justification to kill - and we don't. That's
power.
That's what the emperors had. A man stole
something, he's brought in before the emperor,
he throws himself down on the floor, he begs
for mercy, he knows he's going to die ... and
the emperor pardons him. This worthless man.
He lets him go. That's power. That's power.
SCHINDLER
Amon the Good.
STABLE BOY
I'm sorry, sir, I'm almost done.
GOETH
Oh, that's all right.
Goeth gallops around his great domain holding himself high in the
saddle. But everywhere he looks, it seems, he's confronted with
stoop-shouldered sloth. He forces himself to smile benevolently.
140. INT. GOETH'S VILLA - DAY.
140.
Goeth comes into his bedroom sweating from his ride. A worker
with a pail and cloth appears in the bathroom doorway. More to
the floor -
WORKER
I have to report, sir, I've been unable to
remove the stains from your bathtub.
GOETH
What are you using?
WORKER
Soap, sir.
GOETH
(incredulous)
Soap? Not lye?
GOETH
Go ahead, go on, leave. I pardon you.
The worker hurries out with his pail and cloth. Goeth just
stands there for several moments - trying to feel the power of
emperors he's supposed to be feeling. But he doesn't feel it.
All he feels is stupid.
The worker hurries across the dying lawn outside the villa. He
dares a glance back, and at that moment, a hand with a gun
appears out the bathroom window and fires.
STERN
If he didn't steal so much, I could hide it.
If he's steal with some discretion...
CUT TO:
STERN
There are fifteen thousand people here -
GOLDBERG
Goeth says there's twenty-five.
STERN
There are fifteen. He wants to say sixteen,
seventeen, all right, maybe he can get away
with it, but ten thousand over? It's stupid.
GOLDBERG
Stern, do me a favor, get out of here.
You want to argue about it, go tell Goeth.
STERN (V.O.)
The SS auditors keep coming around,
looking over the books - Goeth knows this -
STERN (V.O.)
- you'd think he'd have the common sense
to see what's coming. No, he steals with
complete impunity.
CUT BACK TO:
They can see Goeth's villa up on the hill; figures moving around
behind the windows. There's another party going on up there.
down here, as he nurses a drink from his flask, Schindler thinks
about what Stern has told him, and eventually shrugs, Fine, fuck
him.
SCHINDLER
So you'll be rid of him.
STERN
If Plaszow is closed, they'll have to send us
somewhere else. Where - who knows?
Gross-Rosen maybe. Maybe Auschwitz.
There's the irony - bad as it is, evil as Goeth is, it could get
worse. Schindler understands.
SCHINDLER
I'll talk to him.
STERN
I think it's too late.
SCHINDLER
Well, I'll talk to somebody. I'll take care of
it.
SCHINDLER
What's he done that's so bad - take money?
That's a crime? Come on, what are we
here for, to fight a war? We're here to make
money, all of us.
TOFFEL
There's taking money and there's taking
money, you know that. He's taking money.
SCHERNER
The place produces nothing. I shouldn't
say that - nothing it produces reaches
the Army. That's not all right.
SCHINDLER
So I'll talk to him about it.
SCHERNER
He's a friend of yours, you want to help him
out.
Tell me this, though - has he ever once shown
you his appreciation? I've yet to see it.
Never a
courtesy. Never a thank you note. He forgets
my wife at Christmas time -
SCHINDLER
He's got no style, we all know that.
So, we should hang him for it?
TOFFEL
He's stealing from you, Oskar.
SCHINDLER
Of course he's stealing from me, we're in
business together. What is this? I'm sitting
here, suddenly everybody's talking like this
is something bad. We take from each other,
we take from the Army, everybody uses
everybody, it works out, everybody's happy.
SCHERNER
Not like him.
SCHINDLER
Yeah, well, in some eyes it doesn't matter
the amount we steal, it's that we do it.
Each of us sitting at this table.
SCHERNER
He doesn't deserve your loyalty. More
important, he's not worth you making
threats against us.
SCHINDLER
Did I threaten anybody here? I stated
a simple fact.
SCHINDLER
Come on, let's watch the girls.
149. INT. D.E.F. FACTORY - DAY.
149.
FACTORY GIRL
... On behalf of the workers ... sir ...
I wish you a happy birthday ...
SCHINDLER
Thank you.
He kisses her on the mouth. The smiles on the faces around them
strain. Stern glances to heaven. Amon cocks his head like a
confused dog. The kiss is broken, finally, and Schindler smiles
again with impunity.
SCHINDLER
Thank them for me.
The girl backs away nodding anxiously; all she wants now is out
before someone - her, Schindler, both of them - gets shot. Henry
Rosner nudges Leo and they begin another song.
Other figures move around the parade ground in the murky dawn
light: these raising a banner, those wheeling filing cabinets
across the Appellplatz, this one wiring a phonograph, that one
saturating a pad with ink from a bottle.
Some still pulling their clothes back on, the first wave of the
"unfit" is marched onto the platform. A guard slides open the
gate of a cattle car and this first unlucky group climbs aboard.
157. EXT. APPELLPLATZ - PLASZOW - DAY. 157.
PFEFFERBERG (O.S.)
Commandant, sir.
Goeth glances up, finds Poldek among the group taking off their
clothes. Pfefferberg appeals to him with a look that asks, Do I
really have to go through this, and Goeth turns to a clerk.
GOETH
My mechanic.
PFEFFERBERG
What about my wife?
An arm held out to either side, the small girl lowers herself
into a pit into which men have defecated. She works her way
slowly down, trying to find knee- and toeholds on the foul walls,
ignoring the flies invading her ears, her nostrils.
Reaching the surface of the muck she lets her feet submerge, then
her ankles, her shins, her knees, before finally touching harder
ground. As she struggles to slow her breathing, her racing
heart, she hears a hallucinatory murmur -
BOY'S VOICE
This is our place.
Waves of heat rise from the roofs of the long string of cattle
cars. Inside, those who "failed" the medical exams bake as they
wait for the last cars to be filled.
GOETH
I tried to call you, I'm running a little late,
this is taking longer than I thought. Have a
drink.
SCHINDLER
What's going on?
GOETH
I got a shipment of Hungarians coming in, I got
to
make room for them. It's always something.
GOETH
They're complaining now? They don't know
what complaining is.
He grins. Schindler watches as another car is loaded. It's like
they're climbing into an oven.
SCHINDLER
What do you say we get your fire brigade
out here and hose down the cars?
GOETH
Bring the fire trucks!
HUJAR
What?
GOETH
This is really cruel, Oskar, you're
giving them hope. You shouldn't do that,
that's cruel.
SCHINDLER
I've got some 200-meter hoses back at D.E.F.,
we can reach the cars down at the end.
GOETH
Hujar!
THE D.E.F. HOSES have arrived and are being coupled to Plaszow's.
As the water drenches the cars further back, the people inside
loudly voice their thanks, and the guards and officers outside
grin at the spectacle.
GUARD
What does he think he's saving them from?
The joke takes on new dimension when, from the back of the D.E.F.
trucks, boxes of food are unloaded. Accompanied by the laughter
of the SS, Schindler moves along the string of cars pushing
sausages through the slats.
GOETH
Oh, my God.
Goeth is almost hysterical. But slowly then, slowly, the
amusement on his face fades. His friend moving along the cars
bringing futile mercy to the doomed in front of countless SS men,
laughing or not, is not just behaving recklessly here, it's as
though he were possessed.
A German staff car pulls in across the factory gate, blocking it.
Two Gestapo men climb out.
SCHINDLER
I'm not saying you'll regret it, but you might.
I want you to be aware of that.
GESTAPO 1
We'll risk it.
SCHINDLER
All right, sure, it's a nice day,
I'll go for a drive with you guys.
SCHINDLER
Where are we going?
The guys up front don't answer. Concern, for the first time,
registers on Schindler's face. The car approaches a building
block long with an ominous sameness to the windows.
SCHINDLER
I violated the Race and Resettlement Act.
Though I doubt they can point out the actual
provision to me.
(pause)
I kissed a Jewish girl.
GOETH
He likes women. He likes good-looking women.
He sees a good-looking woman, he doesn't think.
This guy has so many women. They love him.
He's married, he's got all these women. All
right,
she was Jewish, he shouldn't have done it. But
you didn't see this girl. I saw this girl.
This girl
was very good-looking.
Goeth tries to read the guy behind the desk, but his face
is like a wall.
GOETH
They cast a spell on you, you know, the Jews.
You work closely with them like I do, you see
this. They have this power, it's like a virus.
Some of my men are infected with this virus.
They should be pitied, not punished. They
should receive treatment, because this is as
real as typhus. I see this all the time.
GOETH
It's a matter of money? We can discuss that.
that'd be all right with me.
SS COLONEL
You're offering me a bribe?
GOETH
A "bribe?" No, no, please come on ...a
gratuity.
SCHERNER
Sit down.
SCHERNER
Hello, Amon.
GOETH
Sir.
Scherner smiles and allows Goeth to shake his hand, but it's
clear, even to Goeth himself, that he has fallen from grace.
A tall, thin, gray Waffen SS officer has a request for the Rosner
brothers.
SS OFFICER
I want to hear "Gloomy Sunday" again.
SCHERNER
We give you Jewish girls at five marks a day,
Oskar, you should kiss us, not them.
GOETH
God forbid you ever get a real taste for Jewish
skirt. There's no future in it. No future.
They
don't have a future. And that's not just good
old-fashioned Jew-hating talk. It's policy
now.
SS OFFICER
"Gloomy Sunday" again.
Again they play the song. Again he staggers across the crowded
room to his chair in the corner, paying no attention to the
visiting Commandant from Treblinka or anybody else -
TREBLINKA GUY
- We can process at Treblinka, if everything
is working? I don't know, maybe two thousand
units a day.
TREBLINKA GUY
Now Auschwitz. Now you're talking.
What I got is nothing, it's like a...a machine.
Auschwitz, though, now there's a death factory.
There, they know how to do it. There,
they know what they're doing.
AGAIN THE GRAY OFFICER wavering before Henry and Leo. This time
they don't wait for him to ask for it -
LEO ROSNER
"Gloomy Sunday."
As the man stumbles back to his chair, the Rosners not only play
the song again, they play with it, and him, this one somber man
in the corner staring at them almost gratefully, wrenching from
the song all the sentimentality they can, as if they could
actually drive him to kill himself.
GOETH
Enough - Jesus - God -
The music falls apart. The brothers find Goeth in the crowd
looking at them like, Come on, for Christ's sake play something
else. Which they do - defeated - some innocuous Von Suppe.
Goeth turns back to one of his guests.
Glancing back, as they play, to the corner, the Rosners see the
gloomy SS officer getting slowly up from his chair. He stands
there for a moment, staring at nothing, then slowly makes his way
out onto the balcony where he stands in the night air, absolutely
still, in silhouette to the Rosners.
Bodies being exhumed out of the earth, out of the mass graves in
the forest. The dead lay everywhere, victims of the ghetto
massacre, victims of Plaszow.
GOETH
Can you believe this?
Goeth shakes his head, dismayed. Schindler joins him and stares
at a pyre of bodies built by masked and gagging workers, layer
upon layer.
GOETH
I'm trying to live my life, they come up
with this? I got to find every body buried
up here? And burn it?
It's always something. He glances off. The pyre has reached the
height of a man's shoulder. The workers move around it dousing
it with gasoline.
SCHINDLER
You took my workers.
GOETH
(indignant)
They're taking mine. When I said they
didn't have a future I didn't mean tomorrow.
(pause)
Auschwitz.
SCHINDLER
When?
GOETH
I don't know. Soon.
GOETH
This is good. I'm out of business and he's
catching tadpoles with his son.
Tight on the gleeful boy with a tadpole in his hand. Behind him,
smoke from the pyre rises into the sky.
SCHINDLER
Hey, how you doing?
BRINNLITZ GUY 1
Look at this.
Across the square, Emilie has noticed him; and he, her. But
neither makes a move toward the other. Finally she walks away;
which Schindler interprets correctly to mean, Yes, check into the
hotel. He tips the porter extravagantly and turns back to the
guys from the bar.
SCHINDLER
Let me buy you a drink.
Except for the clothes of the working class clientele, the scene
is reminiscent of the SS nightclub in Cracow: Schindler, the
great entertainer, working his way around the tables making sure
everybody's got enough to drink, making sure everybody's happy.
A guy at a table with a girl gestures him over.
BRINNLITZ GUY 2
Oskar - my friend Lena.
SCHINDLER
How do you do?
(to them both)
What can I get you, what're you drinking?
BRINNLITZ GUY 2
Nothing's changed. Then again, something
has changed, hasn't it?
SCHINDLER
Things worked out. I made some money
over there, had some laughs, you know.
It was good.
BRINNLITZ GUY 2
Now you're back.
SCHINDLER
Now I'm back, and you know what I'm
going to do now? I'm going to have a
good time. So are you.
GIRL
Who is he?
The guy has to think; not because he doesn't know, but because
his old friend Oskar is so many things it's hard to know which
description to use. Finally -
BRINNLITZ GUY 2
He's a salesman.
A woman asleep in the bed. The girl from the bar. In his robe,
at the window, Schindler calmly smokes as he stares out at the
night.
SCHINDLER
Goddamn it.
183. EXT. BALCONY, GOETH'S VILLA - PLASZOW - DAY. 183.
GOETH
You want these people.
SCHINDLER
These people, my people, I want my people.
Goeth considers his friend, greatly puzzled. Below them lies the
camp, still operating, at least for now, until the shipments can
be arranged.
GOETH
What are you, Moses? What is this?
Where's the money in this? What's the scam?
SCHINDLER
It's good business.
GOETH
Oh, this is "good business" in your opinion.
You've got to move them, the equipment,
everything to Czechoslovakia - it doesn't
make any sense.
SCHINDLER
Look -
GOETH
You're not telling me something.
SCHINDLER
It's good for me - I know them, I'm
familiar with them. It's good for you -
you'll be compensated. It's good for
the Army. You know what I'm going to
make? Artillery shells. Tank shells.
They need that. Everybody's happy.
GOETH
Yeah, sure.
GOETH
You're probably scamming me somehow.
If I'm making a hundred, you got to be
making three.
GOETH
If you admit to making three, then it's four,
actually. But how?
SCHINDLER
I just told you.
GOETH
You did, but you didn't.
Goeth studies him, searching for the real answer in his face. He
can't find it.
GOETH
Yeah, all right, don't tell me, I'll go along
with it, it's just irritating to me I can't
figure it out.
SCHINDLER
All you have to do is tell me what it's
worth to you. What's a person worth to you.
GOETH
What's one worth to you?
184.
184.
SCHINDLER
Poldek Pfefferberg ... Mila Pfefferberg ...
THE KEYS typing 'PFEFFE-
GOETH
A virus...
MOVING DOWN THE LIST of names, forty, fifty. The sound of the
keys. Stern pulls the sheet out of the machine, rolls in
another, types a name.
SCHINDLER
You can do the same thing I'm doing.
There's nothing stopping you.
MADRITSCH
I've done enough for the Jews.
SCHINDLER
The investors.
SCHINDLER
All of them. Szerwitz, his family.
TIGHT ON THE FACE of the investor who stole from Schindler, the
one he threatened to have killed by the SS, and the faces of his
sons -
STERN
Four hundred, four fifty -
SCHINDLER
More.
STERN (O.S.)
About six hundred -
SCHINDLR (O.S.)
More.
THE SOUND OF THE KEYS OVER the face of a boy, the "chicken
thief." Over THE FACE OF A GIRL, the one who hid in the pit of
excrement. Over the FACES we've never seen.
STERN (O.S.)
Eight hundred, give or take.
SCHINDLER
(angrily)
Give or take what, Stern - how many -
count them.
STERN RUMS HIS FINGER down the pages of names, trying to count
them more precisely.
GOETH SWEEPS his hold card against the table, is thrown a four,
sweeps it again and gets a jack.
SCHINDLER
That's it.
Stern heard him and stops typing, glances over.
SCHINDLER
You can finish that page.
STERN
What did Goeth say? You just told him
how many you needed?
SCHINDLER
I'm buying them. I'm paying him.
I give him money, he gives me the people.
(pause)
If you were still working for me I'd expect
you to talk me out of it, it's costing me
a fortune.
Stern had no idea. And has no idea now what to say. Schindler
shrugs like it's no big deal, but Stern know it is.
SCHINDLER
Give him the list, he'll sign it, he'll get
the people ready. I have to go back to
Brinnlitz, to take care of things on that end,
I'll see you there.
SCHINDLER
Finish the page.
SCHINDLER
This is my home.
SCHINDLER
I was born here, my wife was born here,
my mother is buried here, this is my home.
His estranged wife is there. So are the guys he was
drinking with.
SCHINDLER
Do you really think I'd bring a thousand
Jewish criminals into my home?
SCHNDLER
These are skilled munitions workers -
they are essential to the war effort -
SCHINDLER
- It is my duty to supervise them -
and it is your duty to allow me -
He barely gets it all out before the protests drown him out. The
uproar reaches such a clamoring level there's no point in his
continuing.
Around him, the new camp is taking shape: Electric fences are
going up, watchtowers, barracks; shipments of heavy equipment,
huge Hilo machines, are being off-loaded from flatbed train cars;
SS engineers stand around frowning at the lay of the land, some
drainage problem no doubt.
190. EXT. DEPOT - PLASZOW - DAY. 190.
A train full of people destined for Auschwitz pulls away from the
platform. As Goldberg gathers his paperwork, a prisoner
approaches him.
PRISONER
Am I on the list?
GOLDBERG
What list is that?
He knows what the prisoner means and the prisoner knows he knows.
He means Schindler's List.
GOLDBERG
The good list? Well, that depends, doesn't it?
He rolls the page down, types another name, tires of the exacting
task, tears the handwritten page of names from the notepad,
crumples it and throws it away.
GOLDBERG
Hey, Poldek, how's it going?
(Pfefferberg ignores him)
You know about the list? You're on it.
PFEFFERBERG
Of course I'm on it.
GOLDBERG
You want to stay on it? What do you
got for me?
PFEFFERBERG
What do I got for you?
GOLDBERG
Takes diamonds to stay on this list.
PFEFFERBERG
I'll kill you, that's what I got for you.
GOLDBERG
All right, all right, all right.
The train pulls into the small quiet Brinnlitz station. The
doors are opened and the prisoners begin climbing down. At the
far end of the platform, flanked by several SS guards, stands
Schindler. To his customary elegant attire he has added a
careless accouterment, a Tyrolean hat.
Under the towering Hilo machines, a meal of soup and bread awaits
the workers. As they're sitting down to it, Schindler addresses
them -
SCHINDLER
You'll be interested to know I received a cable
this morning from the Personnel Office,
Plaszow. The women have left. They should
be arriving here sometime tomorrow.
It's Auschwitz.
The stunned women climb down from the railcars onto an immense
concourse bisecting the already infamous camp. As they're
marched across the muddy yard by guards carrying truncheons, Mila
Pfefferberg stares at the place. It' so big, like a city, only
one in which the inhabitants reside strictly temporarily. To
Mila, under her breath -
WOMAN
Where are the clerks?
SCHINDLER
They're in Auschwitz.
GESTAPO
Your friend Amon Goeth has been arrested.
SCHINDLER
(pause)
I'm sorry to hear that.
GESTAPO
There are some things that are unclear.
We need to talk.
SCHINDLER
I'd love to, it'll have to wait until I
get back. I have to leave.
The looks on their faces tell him he's not going anywhere.
SCHINDLER
All right, okay, let's talk.
GESTAPO
In Breslau.
SCHINDLER
Breslau? I can't go to Breslau. Not now.
YOUNG DOCTOR
How old are you, Mother?
She could lie, and he'd have killed her for it. She could tell
the truth, and he'd have her killed for that, too.
WOMAN
(pause)
Sir, a mistake's been made. We're not
supposed to be here, we work for
Oskar Schindler. We're Schindler Jews.
YOUNG DOCTOR
And who on earth is Oskar Schindler?
PLASZOW GUARD
He had a factory in Cracow. Enamelware.
YOUNG DOCTOR
A potmaker?
INVESTIGATOR
Everything you say will be held in
confidence. You are not under investigation.
You are not under investigation. Mr. Goeth is.
He is being held on charges of embezzlement
and racketeering. You're here at his request
to corroborate his denials. Our information
onto his financial speculations comes from
many sources. On his behalf there is only you.
We know you are close friends. We know
this is hard for you. But we must ask you -
SCHINDLER
He stole our country blind.
Mila and another woman cross back toward their barracks carrying
a large heavy pot of broth. Not more than a hundred meters away
stand the birch trees and crematoria, the smoke pluming even now,
at night.
HOSS
You're right, a clerical error has bee made.
(pause)
Let me offer you this in apology for the
inconvenience. I have a shipment coming in
tomorrow, I'll cut you three hundred from it.
New ones. These are fresh.
HOSS
The train comes, we turn it around, it's yours.
SCHINDLER
I appreciate it. I want these.
HOSS
You shouldn't get stuck on names.
Why, because you get to know them? Because you begin to see them
as human beings? Schindler suddenly has the awful feeling that
the women are already dead. Hoss misinterprets the look.
HOSS
That's right, it creates a lot of paperwork.
Another cry erupts, and another, another, as the women spot their
children, confiscated from the Brinnlitz factory, brought here.
SCHINDLER
These are mine. They're on the list.
These are my workers. They should be
on the train.
SCHINDLER
They're skilled munition workers.
They're essential.
The guard glances from the frantic gentleman to the anxious brook
around him. These are essential workers?
GUARD
They're boys.
SCHINDLER
Yes.
SCHINDLER
Their fingers. They polish the insides of
shell casings. How else do you expect me to
polish the inside of a 45 millimeter shell
casing?
At the perimeter of the camp, at the wire, the men watch the
approaching procession. It appears to them that the women are
covered in blood - or - could it be paint? They're walking,
they're fine, some are even smiling.
The machines are silent, the people are not. Women are in their
husbands' arms, sons in their fathers'. There's food on the
tables but it's largely ignored, the reunion taking precedence.
SCHINDLER
Under Department W provisions, it is unlawful
to kill a worker without just cause. Under the
Businesses Compensation Fund I am entitled to
file damage claims for such deaths. If you
shoot
without thinking, you go to prison and I get
paid,
that's how it works. So there will be no
summary
executions here. There will be no interference
of any kind with production. In hopes of
ensuring that, guards will no longer be allowed
on the factory floor without my authorization.
His eyes meet Liepold's, hold his icy stare, then return to the
guards, most of whom look like tired middle-aged reservists.
SCHINDLER
For your cooperation, you have my gratitude.
SCHINDLER
How's it going?
WORKER
Good. It's taken a while to calibrate the
machines, but it's going good now.
SCHINDLER
Good.
SCHINDLER
This isn't right, is it?
SCHINDLER
There. That looks right.
He wanders off. The worker stares after him. He's just screwed
up settings that took weeks to get right.
SCHINDLER
How's it going, Rabbi?
LEVARTOV
Good, sir.
SCHINDLER
Sun's going down.
SCHINDLER
It is Friday, isn't it?
LEVARTOV
Is it?
SCHINDLER
You should be preparing for the Sabbath,
shouldn't you? What are you doing here?
Levartov just stares. It's been years since he's been allowed,
indeed inclined, to perform Sabbath rites.
SCHINDLER
I've got some wine in my office. Why don't we
go over there, I'll give it to you. Come on,
let's go.
SCHINDLER
Come on.
GUARD
What is that?
SCHINDLER
I want you to come work for me.
There, he's said it. But the bewildered look on Emilie's face
wonders, That's what was hard for you to say?
SCHINDLER
You don't have to live with me,
I wouldn't ask that.
(pause)
It's a nice place. You'd like it.
It looks awful. You get used to that.
She's the only woman he's even known who could make him nervous
just sitting across a table from him, saying nothing.
SCHINDLER
All right -
(now he'll be honest)
We can spend time together that way.
We can see each other, see how it goes -
without the strain of - whatever you want
to call it when a man, a husband and a wife
go out to dinner, go have a drink, go to a
party, you know. This way we'll see each
other at work, there we are, same place,
we see how it goes...
His voice trails off. A shrug adds, What do you think? She
doesn't answer, but she does love him. He loves her, too. It
really is a shame they're not right for each other and never will
be.
Stern glances up from his work; Schindler and Emilie have come in
and are walking toward the accountant's desk. He gets up.
SCHINDLER
Itzhak Stern, Emilie Schindler. My wife.
Like the doormen and waiters of Cracow, Stern too never imagined
Schindler was married and has trouble hiding his astonishment
now. He extends his hand to her.
STERN
How do you do?
EMILIE
How do you do?
STERN
Stern is my accountant and friend.
SCHINDLER
Emilie's offered to work in the clinic.
To ... work there.
STERN
(to her)
That's very generous of you.
SCHINDLER
Yes.
Schindler nods, looks around, shrugs, offers his arm to his wife,
perhaps to take her on a tour of the place.
STERN
It was a pleasure meeting you.
EMILIE
Pleasure meeting you.
The Schindlers leave. Stern sits back down at his desk and
smiles. he's never seen Schindler so uncomfortable.
SCHINDLER
Can you fix it?
The radio.
PFEFFERBERG
What's wrong with it?
SCHINDLER
How should I know? It's broken.
See what you can do.
He leaves. Pfefferberg plugs it into an outlet and switches it
on. It works perfectly. A waltz.
STERN
We need to talk.
SCHINDLER
Stern.
STERN
They arrived.
SCHINDLER
They arrived, can you believe it?
STERN
We've received a complaint from the
Armaments Board. A very angry complaint.
The artillery shells, the tank shells,
rocket casings - apparently all of them -
have failed quality-control tests.
STERN
They're withholding payment.
SCHINDLER
Well, sure. So would I. So would you.
I wouldn't worry about it. We'll get it
right one of these days.
STERN
There's a rumor you've been going around
miscalibrating the machines.
(Schindler doesn't deny it)
I don't think that's a good idea.
SCHINDLER
(pause)
No?
STERN
They could close us down.
SCHINDLER
All right. Call around, find out where
we can buy shells and buy them. We'll
pass them off as ours.
Stern's not sure he sees the logic. Whether the shells are
manufactures here or elsewhere, they'll still eventually reach
their intended destination, into the hearts and heads of
Germany's enemies.
STERN
I know what you're saying, but I don't
see the difference.
SCHINDLER
You don't? I do. I see a difference.
STERN
You'll lose money.
SCHINDLER
Fewer shells will be made.
That's another difference. The main one. The only one Schindler
cares about. Silence. Then:
SCHINDLER
Stern, if this factory ever produces a shell
that can actually be fired ... I'll be very
unhappy.
A nineteen year old boy with his hands in the air stands
terrified before Commandant Liepold and the revolver he wields.
Workers, trying to reduce the likelihood of getting hit by a
stray bullet when Liepold fires on the boy - which seems a
certainty - scramble out of the way.
SCHINDLER (O.S.)
Hey.
LIEPOLD
Department W does not forbid my presence
on the factory floor. That is a lie.
SCHINDLER
Shoot him. Shoot him!
SCHINDLER
Shoot him without a hearing. Come on.
LIEPOLD
He sabotaged the machine.
SCHINDLER
The machine's broken?
SCHINDLER
But the machine.
SCHINDLER
The machine is under the authorization of
the Armaments Inspectorate. I will preside
over the hearing.
JANEK
I'm unfamiliar with the Hilo machines.
I don't know why I was assigned there.
Commandant Liepold was watching me
trying to figure it out. I switched it on
and it blew up. I didn't do anything.
All I did was turn it on.
SCHINDLER
If you're not skilled at armaments work,
you shouldn't be here.
JANEK
I'm a lathe operator.
JANEK
Sir?
JANEK
I did adjust the pressure controls.
JANEK
I know that much about them. Somebody
had set the pressure controls wrong. I had
to adjust -
Schindler slams the back of his hand so hard across Janek's face,
the boy almost falls. He's stunned. So are the others at the
table. They've never seen such violence from the Direktor. He
roars -
SCHINDLER
The stupidity of these people. I wish they
were capable of sabotaging a machine.
SCHINDLER
Get him out of my sight.
Schindler and Emilie, her arm in his, stand around like unwanted
guests at the party. They probably are. Him anyway. The other
guests include local politicians who fought and failed to keep
his camp out of Brinnlitz. Whenever his glance meets one of
theirs, they smile tightly.
SCHINDLER
(to Emilie)
Isn't this nice.
It's not at all nice. He feels out of place, a feeling he's not
accustomed to. Fortunately, a man in uniform, someone Schindler
can relate to, approaches cheerfully, his hand outstretched.
RASCH
Oskar, good of you to come.
SCHINDLER
Are you kidding, I never miss a party.
Police Chief Rasch, my wife Emilie.
RASCH
How do you do?
EMILIE
You have a lovely home.
RASCH
Thank you.
SCHINDLER
I need a drink.
RASCH
Oh, God, you don't have a drink?
SCHINDLER
(to Emilie)
Wine?
RASCH
Your husband's a very generous man.
EMILIE
(wry)
He's always been.
SCHINDLER
I need guns.
SCHINDLER
One of these days the Russians are going to
show up unannounced at my gate. I'd like the
chance to defend myself. I'd like my wife
to have that chance. My civilian engineers.
My secretary.
RASCH
(pause; then, philosophically)
We're losing the war, aren't we.
SCHINDLER
It kind of looks that way.
RASCH
(blithely)
Pistols?
SCHINDLER
Pistols, rifles, carbines ...
(long pause)
I'd be grateful.
SCHINDLER
(calmly)
Careful.
From high above the factory, Stern can be seen among the machines
talking with a worker. The man points up and returns to his
work.
SCHINDLER
Stern.
Above the rim of the tank, amid rising steam, Schindler's head
appears. Then disappears. Stern climbs a set of rungs on the
tank, reaches the top and finds inside, lolling in the steaming
water, Schindler and the blonde stenographer from the trial.
STERN
Excuse me.
Neither Schindler nor the blonde seems the least bit embarrassed.
Only Stern. He tries hard to pretend the girl isn't there, but
he just can't.
STERN
I'll talk to you later.
SCHINDLER
No, no, what, what is it?
STERN
Do you have any money I don't know about?
Hidden away someplace?
SCHINDLER
No.
SCHINDLER
Why, am I broke?
SCHINDLER (V.O.)
Poldek.
Out of darkness, from inside the boxcar as the doors slide open,
Schindler's face is revealed, tight. He stares for an
interminable moment before walking slowly away.
SCHINDLER
It's been suggested I cremate them in my
furnaces. As a Catholic I will not. As a
human being I will not.
PRIEST
There's an area beyond the church reserved
for the burial of suicides. Maybe I can
convince
the parish council to allow them to be
buried there.
SCHINDLER
These aren't suicides.
The priest knows that. But he also knows that the provisions of
Canon Law regarding who can and cannot be buried in consecrated
ground are narrow.
SCHINDLER
These are victims of a great murder.
Work continues, but it's apparent in their eyes they are only
physically here; in spirit they are all walking alongside the
carts, one great moral force.
STERN
What's he doing here?
SCHINDLER
Probably looking for a handout.
GOETH
Thank you.
GOETH
Where are the guards?
SCHINDLER
The guards aren't allowed on the factory floor.
They make my workers nervous.
SCHINDLER
I'll discipline him later.
SCHINDLER
It's time the guards came into the factory.
All twelve hundred workers and all the guards are gathered for
the first time on the factory floor. Tension and uncertainty
surround them. It's ominously quiet. Then -
SCHINDLER
The unconditional surrender of Germany
has just been announced. At midnight
tonight the war is over.
SCHINDLER
Tomorrow, you'll begin the process of looking
for survivors of your families. In many cases
you won't find them. After six long years of
murder, victims are being mourned throughout
the world.
Not by Untersturmfuhrer Liepold. He stands with his men, dying
to lift his rifle and fire.
SCHINDLER
We've survived. Some of you have come up
to me and thanked me. Thank yourselves.
Thank your fearless Stern, and others among
you, who, worrying about you, have faced
death every moment.
(glancing away)
Thank you.
SCHINDLER
You've shown extraordinary discipline.
You've behaved humanely here. You
should be proud.
SCHINDLER
I'm a member of the Nazi party. I'm a
munitions manufacturer. I'm a profiteer
of slave labor, I'm a criminal. At midnight,
you will be free and I will be hunted.
(pause)
I'll remain with you until five minutes
after midnight. After which time, and
I hope you'll forgive me, I have to flee.
SCHINDLER
In memory of the countless victims
among your people, I ask us to observe
three minutes of silence.
SCHINDLER
I know you've received orders from our
Commandant - which he has received
from his superiors - to dispose of the
population of this camp.
SCHINDLER
Now would be the time to do it. They're
all here. This is your opportunity.
The guards hold their weapons, as they have from the moment they
arrived here tonight, at attention, waiting it seems, to be given
the official order from their Commander, Liepold, who appears
ready to give it.
SCHINDLER
Or ...
(he shrugs)
... you could leave. And return to your
families as men instead of murderers.
Long, long silence. Finally, one of the guards slowly lowers his
rifle, breaks ranks and walks away. Then another. And another.
And another. Another.
LEVARTOV
We've written a letter trying to explain
things. In case you're captured. Every
workers has signed it.
Schindler sees a list of signatures beginning below the
typewritten text and continuing for several pages. He pockets
it, this new list of names.
SCHINDLER
Thank you.
STERN
It's Hebrew. It says, 'Whoever saves
one life, saves the world.'
SCHINDLER
(to himself)
I could've got more out ...
Stern isn't sure he heard right. Schindler steps away from him,
from his wife, from the car, from the workers.
SCHINDLER
(to himself)
I could've got more ... if I'd just ... I don't
know, if I'd just ... I could've got more...
STERN
Oskar, there are twelve hundred people who
are alive because of you. Look at them.
He can't.
SCHINDLER
If I'd made more money ...I threw away
so much money, you have no idea.
If I'd just ...
STERN
There will be generations because of
what you did.
SCHINDLER
I didn't do enough.
STERN
You did so much.
Schindler starts to lose it, the tears coming. Stern, too. The
look on Schindler's face as his eyes sweep across the faces of
the workers is one of apology, begging them to forgive him for
not doing more.
SCHINDLER
This car. Goeth would've bought this car.
Why did I keep the car? Ten people,
right there, ten more I could've got.
(looking around)
This pin -
SCHINDLER
They killed so many people ...
(Stern, weeping too,
embraces him)
They killed so many people ...
A panzer emerges from the treeline well beyond the wire of the
camp and just sits there growling like a beast. Suddenly it
fires a shell at nothing in particular, at the night - an
exhibition of random spite - then turns around and rolls back
into the forest.
Some Czech partisans emerge from the forest. They come down the
hill and casually approach the camp. Reaching the wire, they're
met by Pfefferberg and some other workers, rifles slung over
their shoulders. Through the fence -
PARTISAN
It's all over.
PFEFFERBERG
We know.
PARTISAN
(pause)
So what are you doing? You're free to go home.
PFEFFERBERG
When the Russians arrive. Until then
we're staying here.
The partisan shrugs, Suit yourself, and wanders back toward the
trees with his friends.
SS NCO
Hello?
As the cyclists fill their tanks with gasoline borrowed from the
camp, the workers keep their rifles pointed at them. The NCO in
charge lines the gas cans neatly back up against the wire.
NCO IN CHARGE
Thank you very much.
He reaches the camp, climbs easily down from the horse and, in a
loud voice, addresses the hundreds of workers standing at the
fence:
RUSSIAN
You have been liberated by the Soviet Army.
This is it? This one man? The workers wait for him to say more.
He waits for them to move, to leave, to go home. Finally -
RUSSIAN
What's wrong?
A few of the workers come out from behind the fence to talk
with him.
WORKER
Have you been in Poland?
RUSSIAN
I just came from Poland.
WORKER
Are there any Jews left?
WORKER
Where should we go?
RUSSIAN
I don't know. Don't go east, that's for sure,
they hate you there.
(pause)
I wouldn't go west either if I were you.
WORKER
We could use some food.
RUSSIAN
Isn't that a town over there?
Of course it is. But the idea that they could simply walk over
there is completely foreign to them. The Russian rides away.
SCHINDLER
Hey, how you doing?
PFEFFERBERG
Good. How's it going?
SCHINDLER
Things are great, things are great.
PFEFFERBERG
What are you doing?
SCHINDLER
I'm having a drink, come on in, we'll have a
drink.
PFEFFERBERG
I mean where have you been?
Nobody's seen you around for a while.
SCHINDLER
(puzzled)
I've been here. I guess I haven't been out.
PFEFFERBERG
I thought maybe you'd like to come over,
have some dinner, some of the people
are coming over.
SCHINDLER
Yeah? Yeah, that'd be nice, let me get my
coat.
He comes back out with a nice bottle of wine in his hand, and, as
he and Pfefferberg disappear down the stairs together -
He comes back out with a nice bottle of wine in his hand, and, as
he and Pfefferberg disappeaer down the stairs together -
SCHINDLER'S VOICE
Mila's good?
PFEFFERBERG'S VOICE
She's good.
SCHINDLER'S VOICE
Kids are good? Let's stop at a store on the
way so I can buy them something.
PFEFFERBERG'S VOICE
They don't need anything. They just
want to see you.
SCHINDLER'S VOICE
Yeah, I know. I'd like to pick up something
for them. It'll only take a minute.