Fact Vs Fiction: Schindler's List

10. FACT: Schindler Saw The Liquidation Of The Krakow Ghetto

In 1942, the Nazi Party decided to liquidate the Krakow ghettos and inserted all Jews in camps on the border of the city. During the liquidation, essential workers were lined up in the street, taunted, humiliated or shot. The survivors were sent to live in the newly built Plaszow Camp, where they were kept under constant surveillance and threat.

In the movie, while out riding his horse, Oskar witnesses the barbaric actions carried out by the Nazis during the liquidation of the ghetto. This caused him to change his incentive from financial profit to saving as many of his employees as possible.

In reality, this also marked a turning point for Schindler as he began to understand just how little hope his workers had. However, what the movie doesn’t document is that Schindler was aware of the upcoming liquidation days beforehand. He had ordered all of his Jewish employees to sleep the night in the factory to avoid conflict.