The Purest Race

“The Jews started it all—and by ‘it’ I mean so many of the things we care about, the underlying values that make all of us, Jew and Gentile, believer and aethiest, tick. Without the Jews, we would see the world through different eyes, hear with different ears, even feel with different feelings ... we would think with a different mind, interpret all our experience differently, draw different conclusions from the things that befall us. And we would set a different course for our lives.”
- Thomas Cahill, The Gifts Of The Jews
It’s quite interesting to know the story of the Jews from the accounts of the Holy Scripture. Different passages from the Bible illustrate how Jews were persecuted and humiliated by powerful figures or race which has started for about 2,000 years ago. According to the gospel of Matthew Chapter 27 Verse 25, the crowd shouted, “His blood be on us and our children”. The verse implies that the Jews were held responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. All throughout Christian literature, this line has been used to discriminate and exploit them. During 70 A.D. where Jerusalem was destructed, almost one million Jews were killed and were put into slavery.
During the time of Constantine, a lot of anti-Jewish laws were passed and made Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. Jews were also persecuted in Spain because of the issue of baptism. For Christians, they were considered as enemies. These bloody persecutions were extended during the time of Adolf Hitler where the Nazi party is formed. The persecution has commenced after the war but there were already six million Jews killed.
The Schindler’s List is a story that could stir our emotions. It projects different life experiences and struggles. The movie concentrates more on the lives of the Jews rather than that of Schindler’s. Schindler is a happy-go-lucky man who possesses almost everything in life. Money, fame, power, name it! He holds a business in Czechoslovakia where he hires hundreds or thousands of employees to do numerous tasks. Mr. Schindler has been involved with the Nazis though he does not hate Jews. Upon the arrival of German people in Poland, the Jewish community received harsh treatment. The Germans took their belongings leaving them nothing at hand. Despite these massive killings and persecutions, Schindler hired 150 Jews for his enamelware factory. The Nazis were a bit suspicious of his acts. He was arrested but his friends will always come to rescue him out.
On the other hand, the Nazis pursued their operation on concentration camps until such time that the workers become sick or weak. Amon Koth initiated the construction of labour camps in Krakow. He loves to shoot anyone who is uncooperative, the elders, and even those who are innocent. During this time, Schindler also builds his sub-camp for the security of his workers.
Schindler along with his friend Stern made a list of workers. It includes 1,100 Jews which later on became the popular “Schindler’s List”. These were the people who survived the Second World War and escaped cruelty from the hands of the German oppressors.