Schindler's List, Movie and History

This 1993 Steven Spielberg movie, based on a novel about real life Oskar Schindler, is both depressing and uplifting. Perhaps that is fitting, as Schindler himself displayed actions of darkness and light, but then I suppose we all do to some extent. The thing is, when the final bell sounds, hopefully we will have tallied far more light than darkness, and that certainly was the case with Oskar Schindler. When I look at a couple of examples of characters, one fictional, George Bailey of "It's A Wonderful Life," and one real, Claus von Stauffenberg, who almost succeeded in assassinating Hitler, I see that we need to be broadminded enough to accept the flaws of both men, and thus, others too. George Bailey wanted to leave his small hometown of Bedford Falls and go off to design and build great things, make lots of money and travel the world, but his sense of conscience and service to others had him choose to remain in Bedford Falls, although grudgingly, and to help many of the town's people, and to resist the ruthless greed of Mr. Potter.* Claus von Stauffenberg was a German officer from the nobility and a devout Catholic. As with many Germans, Stauffenberg sided with Hitler's foreign policy goals of regaining lost German claimed territories, and he developed an admiration for Hitler, but he then learned of the terrible atrocities being committed in the name of the German people, and his conscience switch was flipped to "on." Stauffenberg and many others paid with their lives for the attempted assassination of Hitler.**

Oskar Schindler was born in the Czech province of Moravia, which had some German populated areas. He later went into business and joined the Nazi Party in the late 1930s.*** Schindler wanted to make money at an enamelware business he took over in German-occupied Poland, in Krakow (German: Krakau). He used Jews to save labor costs and he paid bribes to various Nazi officials to keep using Jews in his plant. So Schindler's original motive in using Jews was to make money. When he witnessed the brutal, ruthless treatment and murder of Jews in the city, like Stauffenberg mentioned above, his conscience was activated and he saw things for what they really were. One little girl in a red coat stood out to him. The movie was filmed in black and white, except for the scenes of the little girl in the red coat. From then on, Schindler tried to save as many Jews from the Nazis as possible by keeping them employed for him and by paying more bribes to Nazi officials.

The film is generally historical in many of its depictions, including the depiction of Amon Göth, a psychopathic SS officer, who was tried and executed after the war, right near the site of many of his despicable crimes. The executions in the Krakow Jewish ghetto shown in the film are based on fact, as are Schindler's bribes to Nazis to save the lives of helpless Jews. PLEASE watch this movie, if you haven't already seen it, and please watch it again if you have seen it before. The fight against evil never ends and we need to constantly be reminded of the horrors we humans can inflict on the world. We also need to be reminded of the good and brave deeds done by some in opposing evil, at great risk to themselves. If you have difficulty in watching brutality and murder, I do have to advise, this is a very troubling movie, because it is based on fact. However, the ending showing how the real life survivors of the Nazis honored Oskar Schindler is very moving and swings the darkness of the film's and history's truth back to the light. It made me recall a scene in another film based on the life of Solomon Perel, "Europa, Europa," **** where a German soldier tells the German Jewish teenager, "not all Germans are the same, there are other Germans" ("nicht alle Deutschen sind gleich, es gibt noch anderen Deutsche"). "Schindler's List" was criticized by some, but any movie, play, book, or article attempting to depict or describe the horrible inhumanity of those times will be criticized, because there is so much pain and no adequate way to put into words or pictures that pain for those who went through it.

* For more on George Bailey and "It's A Wonderful Life," this is a link to a previous article: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/12/its-wonderful-life-showed-conscience.html

** For more on Stauffenberg, this is the link to another article:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2013/07/heroes-against-hitler-colonel-klaus-von.html

*** Germans joined the Nazi Party for various reasons, I'm sure, including for business reasons, to stay "in good" with the regime, and to derive any benefits from that association. Most Germans were not party members, and the process of becoming a Nazi Party member wasn't always easy, but that doesn't mean some non party members weren't supportive or fanatical in some beliefs.

**** Released in most of Europa as, "Hitlerjunge Salomon." For more on this movie, here is the link to the article I did:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/12/solomon-perel-staying-alive-among-nazis.html

Photo is from the DVD cover by Universal, 2013. 

WORD HISTORY:
Tear-This is the word pronounced as if, "teer," and meaning "salty liquid that comes from the eyes in droplets." It goes back to Indo European "dakru," which meant "tears," and it is has widespread forms throughout the Indo European languages. "Dakru" gave its Old Germanic offspring "tahra/taghr," meaning "tear." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "teahor" and "teagor," both meaning "tear," which then seemingly merged into "tear," and likely pronounced like "tee-are." This then became "teer/ter," before the modern version. The verb form, meaning "to produce tears, to shed tears," developed from the noun in the 1400s. The other Germanic languages have: German "Zähre," a form that is now very high style and poetic, and also the common form "Träne," where the "r" sound moved ahead of the vowel and the word was then contracted from "trahan" (see also the Low German and West Frisian forms); Low German Saxon "Traan," West Frisian "trien," Dutch "traan," Danish "tåre," Norwegian and Swedish "tår," Icelandic "tár."  

"It's A Wonderful Life" Showed Conscience

Edited very slightly December 8, 2020

 

"It's A Wonderful Life" is a movie given by Frank Capra and the United States to the world.* It shows how conscience is important to holding people together. If you've never seen this movie, made just after the end of World War Two, please take the time to sit down and watch it, it will inspire you.** It will inspire you, unless of course, you love money more than anything, and thus you see communists lurking everywhere, including under your bed. If you think I'm joking, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI believed the film was the result of communist infiltration of Hollywood; after all, the main character, played by Jimmy Stewart, gave up money to help others, making him downright un-American in the eyes of the moneygrubbing ego maniacs who are constantly working to have the world orbiting around themselves. In today's America, I'm sure the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs and Donald Trump see the picture as under the influence of communists, so beware, you may make their list if you like this movie. I hope I do make their list, since I'll call them what they are; a bunch of fascist propagandists, undoubtedly all in the possession of leather bound editions of "The Collected Works of Joseph Goebbels."***

I have to believe most of you have seen the movie at some point (but watch it again, we need reinforcement in our lives, and NOT from the merchants of hate and survival of the fittest), so I'll go through it briefly, including the ending. The movie centers around the life of small town resident George Bailey, played by James "Jimmy" Stewart. The Bailey family isn't against business, the father and uncle run a building and loan company that helps workers achieve the American dream of owning a home by pooling money to build homes for the town's non rich. The Baileys struggle to get by, just as their customers struggle in their lives, but the Baileys are always more than a little reluctant to foreclose on the town's people, although they are opposed in such beliefs by Mr. Potter, played by Lionel Barrymore, the town's richest man and the owner of just about everything in the town. George has many dreams, including the dream of leaving small town life and going off to do big things. His dreams often come into conflict with his conscience, but in the end, George's conscience wins, although his help to others brings hardship to himself, as "no good deed goes unpunished." In his childhood, George saved his younger brother who had fallen through the ice into a nearby pond. The result is, George loses the hearing in one ear due to the frigid water. As George prepares to go off and do big things, his father dies and George takes over the struggling building and loan business, which otherwise would have been liquidated, leaving the market to moneygrubbing Potter, who is constantly plotting the demise of the company. When the Great Depression strikes, George is about to leave for his honeymoon, but he chooses to remain in town and spend his own savings to keep the building and loan in business. The constant struggle to eke out a living and keep the business going takes its toll on George, and by the time World War Two ends, his troubles are capped off by the shortage of $8000 on the business accounts, money misplaced by his forgetful uncle (played by Thomas Mitchell). The ruthless and jealous Mr. Potter now moves in for the kill, accusing George of embezzlement and calling in the law. The distraught George turns on his family in anger and decides to end his own life.

As George prepares to jump off of a bridge, his guardian angel, played by English actor Henry Travers, who has been watching events unfold, intervenes and jumps into the swirling river first, as he knows George will quickly forget his own life when another person needs help. After the rescue, the angel, named Clarence, carrying a copy of "Tom Sawyer," tells a disbelieving George who he is. Clarence has been given the assignment of saving George so that he, Clarence, can then earn his wings, which the devoted, but less than resourceful angel has been unable to do for centuries. So Clarence gets another chance too! George, now again focused on his own troubles, gives Clarence an idea when he tells him, "I wish I'd never been born." Clarence grants the wish and George Bailey's history is wiped out. As George goes through town, no one knows him, including his own mother, and he sees the town has been renamed after Mr. Potter. All sorts of things are different, including a grave for his younger brother, who ended up dying, because George wasn't there to save him when he fell through the ice into the pond. The brother had helped save a transport ship full of men in World War II, but Clarence then tells George that all of the men on the transport died, because his brother hadn't been there to save them, because George hadn't been there to save his brother when they were kids. This is how events of people's lives link to other lives. The section of town where the homes had been built for average people is vacant and ringed with slums owned by Potter. After George tries to get his wife to understand who he is, she screams, bringing a police officer in pursuit of George, who heads back to the bridge to ask to be put back to his real life, troubled though it is.

George, unaware his real life is back, wants to slug his long time friend the policeman when he pulls up. When the officer calls him by name, George realizes his life is back and he cheerfully dashes through town to get home. He enters the house where a bank examiner and a detective with an arrest warrant are waiting for him. In comes George's wife (played by Donna Reed) and other family members. In a turn around from his always helping others, they are carrying money donated by the townspeople to help George this time. More people crowd the house to donate, and one man says, "I wouldn't have a roof over my head if weren't for you, George." People remember! A telegram arrives from a lifelong friend and successful businessman granting George a large line of credit. (Hm, he must be a communist too. Damn, they're everywhere!) With the line of credit and the donated money now available to George, the detective tears up the warrant and joins the celebration. George's brother arrives and offers a toast to his brother George, "the richest man in town." As they all sing, George looks down into the donation basket and sees Clarence's copy of "Tom Sawyer," complete with the inscription, "George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings!"           

* Frank Capra produced and directed the movie.

** The movie is readily available on DVD.

*** Joseph Goebbels was Hitler's propagandist. Goebbels and his wife were fanatical Nazi nutcases to the very end, as after Hitler's suicide, they tragically killed their six beautiful young children in Hitler's Berlin bunker, and then, not so tragically, killed themselves.

Photo is of the 2 disc Paramount DVD release of 2007

WORD HISTORY:
Yarn-This word goes back to Indo European "ghor/gher," with the idea of "guts, intestines," which were then used for strings, chords. This gave its Old Germanic offspring "garnan," by which time the meaning had broadened to include "wool used to make string, thread, yarn." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "gearn," seemingly pronounced "ge-arn," which then became "yarn," as the "initial "ge" blended to become a "y" sound. The word also took on the meaning "a story," from the idea of putting ideas together into an understandable tale. Other Germanic languages have: German "Garn," Low German Saxon "Goorn," Dutch "garen," West Frisian "jern," Danish, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish all have "garn."