Fuhrer: Heroic opportunity

The two films Schindler’s list and Good Evening Mr Wallenberg tells the respective tales of Osckar Schindler and Raoul Wallenberg, an ammunition manufacturer and a diplomat who used their considerable influence and resources to save the lives of thousands of Jews from the holocaust.

In the case of Oskar Schindler, it seems he fell into his savior image more through chance and self interest. Initially he is seen more as a playboy who finds it a good business investment to use Jews from a nearby concentration camp to work in his factory. He soon however begins to empathize with them particularly as he comes into close contact with them and sees the immense suffering they endure. He then forgets any prospects for monetary gain and instead devotes all his money into hiring (and therefore keep alive) as many Jews as he could bankrupting himself financially in the process.

This may be the reason why he chose to help these people when so many “good” people did not. Many people who chose not to act against the Nazis were not shown the consequences of their actions. Most of the time Jews were rounded up to be segregated from the rest of their respective societies and the atrocities they were to endure were only witnesses by themselves or people working directly for the Nazi administration. As such I believe if people had non choice but to bear witness as Schindler did to the evils of the Nazi regime then more people would have risen up against it.

Raoul Wallenberg on the other hand payed the ultimate price for his efforts. As a diplomat he gave sanctuary to many Jews during his stay in Budapest Hungary where he issued them protective passports and allowed them residence in Swedish owned lands. His suspicious disappearence only a month later while being detained in Societ Russia seems like a clear case of punishing someone in order to make an example out of them.

Which brings me to my second and most important point as to why many people did not act against the Nazis, Fear. The most deterring factor in anyones live is fear. It is only natural to believe in one’s own preservation and as History will bear witness fear has been used to intimidate and discourage since time began. After all it takes a brave person to forsake one’s own preservation for another, particularly another who they could not even put a face to. Therefore in the case of both Schindler and Wallenberg I would not like to insinuate that there was something uniquely heroic in these two mens character that allowed them to do what they did but rather it was the fact that they had the rare opurtunity to witness first hand what could happen due to their inaction.