How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from Schindler's List.
Quote #1
SCHERNER: Who is that man?
MAITRE D': That's Oskar Schindler!
SCHERNER: And who is Oskar Schindler?
MAITRE D': Um… I don't know, he's just this good-looking guy with a lot of money. Must be important.
Oskar is the epitome of faking it 'til you make it. He convinces everyone that he's so important until suddenly he really is. He knows the value of reputation.
Quote #2
[Poldek Pfefferberg, on his way into a black market meeting, is looking at a poster showing the dimensions of a Jewish brain—smaller than a normal brain, of course.]
The Nazis trotted out fake science to prove that Jews by their very biological makeup were an inferior species of humans. You could be a complete atheist, but if you were of Jewish descent, you were still a Jew and worthy of extermination.
Quote #3
PFEFFERBERG: Ordnungsdienst. I'm a policeman now, could you believe it? I know it's hard to believe.
MAN: Oh no, it's not hard to believe.
The suggestion here is that labels are less important than who the person is underneath… and conversely, that there isn't much difference between crooks and cops.
Quote #4
SCHINDLER: 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 to know it's a Jew he's enjoying. He shot the woman from the steps because she meant nothing to him. She was just one of a series neither offending him nor pleasing him.
Jews in every country occupied by Nazi Germany were forced to wear an identifying Star of David on their clothing. Helen's Jewish identity puts her in danger, but Goeth can't get around his obsession with her. Certain emotions and feelings can't be regulated by a star on the clothing. Goeth seems to delude himself that by removing the star, Helen somehow is not a Jew.
Quote #5
GOETH: We have the f***ing power to kill, that's why they fear us.
SCHINDLER: They fear us because we have the power to kill arbitrarily. A man commits a crime, he should know better. We have him killed, and we feel pretty good about it. Or we kill him ourselves and we feel even better. That's not power though. That's justice. It's different than power. Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't.
GOETH: You think that's power?
SCHINDLER: That's what the emperors had. A man stole something, he's brought in before the emperor, he throws himself down on the ground, he begs for mercy. He knows he's going to die. And the emperor pardons him. This worthless man, he lets him go.
This is Schindler hoping to manipulate Goeth's self-image as a powerful man. If power is important to him, then he can wield it by sparing someone just as easily as killing someone. It doesn't work, but major points for effort.
Quote #6
SCHINDLER: 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.
The Nazis have taken away the rabbi's identity: the role he serves in his community. Now, in the waning days of the war, Schindler's finally able to give it back to him. It's a hugely poignant gesture.
Quote #7
SCHINDLER: I am a member of the Nazi Party. I'm a munitions manufacturer. I'm a profiteer of slave labor. I am... a criminal. At midnight, you'll be free and I'll be hunted. I shall remain with you until five minutes after midnight, after which time—and I hope you'll forgive me—I have to flee.
Schindler was deeply in bed with the regime that just lost the war. He suffers an instant change of identity and will be hunted down just because of who he is. The Jews write a letter for him to show to the Russians in case he's caught, explaining what he did for them. He's not really what he will seem to be to the Russian liberators.