Most scenes together: Oskar Schindler & Itzhak Stern (12), Oskar Schindler & Amon Goeth (6)
Sir, a mistake has been made. We're not supposed to be here. We work for Oskar Schindler. We're Schindler Jews.
Who is Oskar Schindler?
He had a factory in Krakow. Enamelware.
A potmaker.
We give you Jewish girls at five marks a day, Oskar. You should kiss us, not them. 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.
Do you have any idea how much a shirt like this costs?
Nice things cost money.
How many?
I'm going to need some other things too as things come up...
This won't be a problem.
...from time to time.
I respectfully report I've been given orders to clear the bundles from the road so there will be no obstructions to the thoroughfare.
Reiter The entire foundation has to be torn down and repoured. If not, there will be at least a subsidence at the southern end of the barracks. Subsidence, and then collapse.
And you are an engineer?
Reiter Yes. My name is Diana Reiter. I'm a graduate of Civil Engineering from the University of Milan.
Ah, an educated Jew... like Karl Marx himself. Unterscharfuehrer!
Hujar Jawohl?
Shoot her.
Reiter Herr Kommandant! I'm only trying to do my job!
Ja, I'm doing mine.
Hujar Sir, she's foreman of construction.
I'm not going to have arguments with these people.
Reiter It will take more than that...
I'm sure you're right.
You have been liberated by the Soviet Army!
Have you been in Poland?
I just came from Poland.
Are there any Jews left?
Where should we go?
Don't go east, that's for sure. They hate you there. I wouldn't go west either, if I were you.
We could use some food.
Isn't that a town over there?
I'll never find a maid as well-trained as her in Brinnlitz. They're all country girls...She's just going to Auschwitz # 2 anyway. What difference does this make?
She's not going to Auschwitz. I'd never do that to her. No, I want her to come back to Vienna with me. I want her to come work for me there. I want to grow up old with her.
Are you mad? Amon, you can't take her to Vienna with you.
No, of course I can't. That's what I'd like to do. What I can do, if I'm any sort of a man, is the next most merciful thing. I should take her into the woods and shoot her painlessly in the back of the head...What is it you said for a natural twenty-one? Fourteen thousand, eight hundred?
For each thousand you invest, I will repay you with two hundred kilos of enamelware a month, to begin in July and to continue for one year - after which time we're even. That's it. It's very simple.
Not good enough...
Not good enough? Look where you're living. Look where you've been put. 'Not good enough.' A couple of months ago, you'd be right. Not anymore.
Money's still money.
No it is not. That's why we're here. Trade goods, that's the only currency that'll be worth anything in the ghetto. Things have changed, my friend. Did I call this meeting? You told Mr. Stern you wanted to speak to me. I'm here. I've made you a fair offer.
Fair would be a percentage of the company.
How do we know that you will do what you say?
Because I said I would. Do you want a contract? To be upheld by what court? I said what I'll do, that's our contract.
I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just... I could have got more.
Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
If I'd made more money... I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just...
There will be generations because of what you did.
I didn't do enough!
You did so much.
This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this. I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!
I go to work the other day. Nobody's there. Nobody tells me about this. I have to find out, I have to go in. Everybody's gone.
They're not gone. They're here.
They're mine! Every day that goes by, I'm losing money. Every worker that is shot costs me money. I have to find somebody else. I have to train them.
We're going to be making so much money, none of this is going to matter.
It's bad business.
Scherner told me something else about you.
Yeah, what's that?
That you know the meaning of the word 'gratitude.' That it's not some vague thing with you like it is with others. You want to stay where you are. You've got things going on the side, things are good. You don't want anybody telling you what to do. I can understand all that. You know, I know you. What you want is your own sub-camp. Do you have any idea what's involved? The paperwork alone? Forget you got to build the **** thing, getting the **** permits is enough to drive you crazy. Then the engineers show up. They stand around, they argue about drainage, foundations, codes, exact specifications, parallel fences four kilometers long, twelve hundred kilograms of barbed wire, six thousand kilograms of electrified fences...I'm telling you, you'll want to shoot somebody. I've been through it, you know, I know.
Well, you know, you've been through it. You could make things easier for me. [Goeth shrugs] I'd be grateful.
I'm going home. I've done what I came here for. I've got more money than any man can spend in a lifetime. Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.
I think I'd better have it now.
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, I've never had much use for them. But the third…
Just pretend, for Christ's sake.
I'm trying to thank you. I'm saying I couldn't have done this without you. The usual thing would be to acknowledge my gratitude. It would also, by the way, be the courteous thing.
You're welcome.
People die, it's a fact of life. He wants to kill everybody? Great, what am I supposed to do about it? Bring everybody over? Is that what you think? 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 rabbis and orphans and people with no skills whatsoever. You think I don't know what you're doing? You're so quiet all the time. I know. I know.
Are you losing money?
No, I'm not losing money, that's not the point.
What other point is -
It's dangerous! It's dangerous to me. You have to understand, Goeth is 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 just be the good aspects of him - which - he's a wonderful crook. A man who loves good food, good wine, the ladies, making money -
- killing -
He can't enjoy it....What do you want me to do about it?
Nothing, nothing. We're just talking.
So, what can I do for you?
They say that no one dies here. They say your factory is a haven. They say you are good.
Who says that?
Everyone. My name is Regina Perlman, not Elsa Krause. I've been living in Krakow on false papers since the ghetto massacre. My parents are in Plaszow. Their names are Chana and Jakob Perlman. They are older people. They're killing older people now in Plaszow. They bury them up in the forest. Look, I don't have any money. I-I borrowed these clothes, I'm begging you - please, please bring them here.
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...Such activities are illegal. You will not entrap me, Miss Krause. Cry and I'll have you arrested, I swear to God.
That's it. You can finish that page.
What did Goeth say about this? You just told him how many people you needed, and - you're not buying them. You're buying them? You're paying him for each of these names?
If you were still working for me, I'd expect you to talk me out of it. It's costing me a fortune. Finish the page and leave one space at the bottom.
The list is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.
