There's a company you did the books for on Lipowa Street, made what - pots and pans?
By law, I have to tell you, sir, I'm a Jew.
Well, I'm a German, so there we are. A good company you think?
I know nothing about enamelware, do you?
I was just the accountant.
Simple engineering, though, wouldn't you think? Change the machines around, whatever you do, you could make other things, couldn't you? Field kits, mess kits, army contracts. Once the war ends, forget it, but for now it's great. You could make a fortune, don't you think?
I think most people right now have other priorities.
I'm sure you'll do just fine once you get the contracts. In fact, the worse things get, the better you will do.
Oh, I can get the signatures I need - that's the easy part. Finding the money to buy the company, that's hard.
You don't have any money?
Not that kind of money. You know anybody? Jews, yeah. Investors. You must have contacts in the Jewish business community working here.
What "community"? Jews can no longer own businesses. That's why this one's in receivership.
Ah, but they wouldn't own it. I'd own it. I'd pay them back in product. Pots and pans.
Something they can use. Something they can feel in their hands. They can trade it on the black market, do whatever they want. Everybody's happy. If you want, you could run the company for me.
Let me understand. They'd put up all the money. I'd do all the work. But what, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?
I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache - that's what I'm good at, not the work, not the work - the presentation.
I'm sure I don't know anybody who'd be interested in this.
Well, they should be, Itzhak Stern. Tell them they should be.
Three hundred and fifty workers on the factory floor with one purpose...to make money - for me!...They won't soon forget the name Schindler either. I can tell you that. Oskar Schindler, they'll say. Everybody remembers him. He did something extraordinary. He did something no one else did. He came here with nothing, a suitcase, and built a bankrupt company into a major manufactory. And left with a steamer trunk, two steamer trunks, full of money. All the riches of the world...There's no way I could have known this before, but there was always something missing. In every business I tried, I can see now it wasn't me that had failed. Something was missing. Even if I'd known what it was, there's nothing I could have done about it, because you can't create this thing. And it makes all the difference in the world between success and failure.
Emilie Luck.
Why don't you build yourself up?
Helen My first day here, he beat me because I threw out the bones from dinner. He came down to the basement at midnight and he asked me where they were - for his dogs...I said to him, 'Why are you beating me?' He said, 'The reason I beat you now is because you ask why I beat you.'
Helen It doesn't matter. I have accepted them...One day, he will shoot me.
Helen I know. I see things. We were on the roof on Monday, young Lisiek and I, and we saw the Herr Kommandant come out of the front door and down the steps by the patio right there below us. And there on the steps, he drew his gun - he shot a woman who was passing by. A woman carrying a bundle, through the throat. Just-just a woman on her way somewhere. You know, she-she was no fatter or thinner or slower or faster than anyone else and I couldn't guess what had she done. The more you see of Herr Kommandant, the more you see there is no set rules that you can live by. You can say to yourself, 'if I follow these rules, I will be safe.'
He won't shoot you because he enjoys you too much. He enjoys you so much, he won't even let you wear the star. He doesn't want anyone else to know it's a Jew he's enjoying. He shot the woman from the steps because she meant nothing to him. She was one of a series - neither offending or pleasing him. But you, Helen. [He leans closer, as she pulls away] It's all right. It's not that kind of a kiss. [He tenderly kisses her on the forehead]
The standard SS rate for Jewish skilled labor is seven marks a day, five for unskilled and women. This is what you pay the Reich Economic Office, the Jews themselves receive nothing. Poles you pay wages. Generally, they get a little more. Are you listening?...The Jewish worker's salary - you pay it directly to the SS, not to the worker. He gets nothing.
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. Why should I hire Poles?
We've received an angry complaint from the Armaments Board. The artillery shells, tank shells, rocket casings, apparently all of them have failed quality-control tests.
Well, that's to be expected - start-up problems. This isn't pots and pans. This is a precise business. I'll write them a letter.
They're withholding payment.
Sure. So would I. So would you. I wouldn't worry about it. We'll get it right one of these days.
There's a rumor you've been going around miscalibrating the machines. They could shut us down, send us back to Auschwitz.
I'll call around, find out where we can buy shells, pass them off as ours.
I don't see the difference. Whether they're made here or somewhere else.
You don't see a difference? I see a difference.
You'll lose a lot of money, that's the difference.
Fewer shells will be made. Stern, if this factory ever produces a shell that can actually be fired, I'll be very unhappy.
[defending Schindler]
He likes women. He likes good-looking women. He sees a beautiful woman - he doesn't think. He has so many women. They love him, yeah, they love him. I mean, he's married, yeah, but... 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, wuff, very good-looking. They cast a spell on you, you know, the Jews. When 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. It's a matter of money, hmm?
[Supervising the incineration of bodies buried near Plaszow]
Can you believe this? As if I don't have enough to do, they come up with this? I have to find every rag buried up here adn burn it. The party's over, Oskar. They're closing us down, sending everybody to Auschwitz...As soon as I can arrange the shipments, maybe 30, 40 days. That ought to be fun.
[to Auschwitz guards]
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, 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. [to the Commanding Officer, Josef Liepold] For your cooperation, you have my gratitude.
