Day 1, Schindler

We discussed some of the construction for the movie, and I gave you a timeline of some WWII events involving Oskar Schindler. You can find one such timeline here:

http://www.southerninstitute.info/holocaust_education/slguide.html#abriefchronology

We watched the first day, seeing Schindler meeting Nazi party officials by sending them drinks, paying for food, and having his picture taken with them. He partnered with an unwilling Itzhak Stern, a Jewish accountant. Schindler could legally own and buy a company with money Stern organized from Jewish investors, who would be paid in product that they could trade on the black market in the Polish ghetto. This is the best of a very bad situation for the Jews, who have lost their homes and businesses and have been forced to live in a space in Warsaw that was roughly 16 square blocks.

Schindler will be hiring Jews for the factory--he must pay the wages directly to the SS because the Jews themselves don't receive money. He will not hire Poles because they cost more to hire. The factory will produce enamelware for the German Army.

Stern recruits the workers. He recruits "nonessential" personnel and converts them to "essential" tradesmen using a forger to create documents for them. He then has them trained so they can do metal work in the factory.