The movie, Schindler’s List, begs the question: How can a story depicting such horrors be so beautifully done that people want to see it over and over? The movie shows how hatred for a people who were fully human, caused them to be treated worse than animals.
That kind of story could be written on behalf of many other people in the world. Some of us know in smaller ways what that might be like. And when we think of such horrors, we cry out to God. “Why? Are we not all human? Did you not intend for us to be brothers and sisters?”
But a light came to shine in the darkness of that story. An individual whose life was flawed, least expected to come out a hero, brings beauty to what in other ways would have been a most depressing movie.
I’m not at all suggesting that Oskar is like Jesus, but isn’t that how it was when Jesus came into the world? The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) When a bright light shines in darkness, it’s the light that will be the dominant feature.
Oskar Schindler was a light during the darkness of the Holocaust.
One of my favourite scenes in the movie was towards the end at the Brünnlitz factory when Schindler asks a rabbi,
“How are you doing, Rabbi?
“Good, Herr Direktor,” was the response.
Schindler tells him, “The sun is going down.”
“Yes it is.”
From Schindler, “What day is it? Friday, isn’t it?”
“Is it?” asks the rabbi.
And Oskar’s wonderful response: “What’s the matter with you? You should be preparing for the Sabbath, shouldn’t you? I’ve got some wine in my office. Come.
And so, we have a beautiful story about a man’s transformation. He risked his life, spending all his fortune to save 1,200 people from a horrific death.
This has been Part 46 of the Series A Life Worth Living. Read Part 47, After the War.
Leave a Reply