Schindler's List Scene 19 Summary

  • Goeth goes on inspection duties for his metalworks factory.
  • He demands that a prisoner, a rabbi, makes him a hinge. He times how long it takes him to make it.
  • Goeth comments on the small number of hinges the man's made that day, and takes him outside to shoot him.
  • The quality of German engineering soon becomes clear as the Luger misfires. (The preferred sidearm of Nazi Germany was frankly a terrible weapon).
  • The Jewish prisoner explains that the machines weren't working that morning, and he had just started work on the hinges.
  • Goeth can't manage to get the guns to work, so instead he bashes the man's head with the butt of his POS pistol and storms off in a huff.
  • Stern takes Oskar aside to let him know what happened with the hinge maker. Oskar pulls a few strings and manages to get the man sent to work in his factory.