Schindler's List Ignored A Lot Of Awful Truths About Oskar Schindler

In 1939, Hitler began plotting the invasion of Poland, an action which would eventually kickstart WWII. Key to the invasion was Germany's tactic of disguising their soldiers in Polish uniforms — an impossible feat were it not for the assistance of Oskar Schindler. According to his wife, Emilie, Schindler procured and distributed the disguises.

At this time, Schindler was a notable member of Hitler's party, and in fact, spied on Czechoslovakians for Germany in the 1930s. 

In Schindler's List, the frantic composition of the eponymous series of names — Jewish people Schindler planned to save by sending them to his factory rather than concentration camps — is a primary point of focus. This depiction, however, strays considerably from history. According to a Forbes review of Schindler's biography:

Oskar Schindler convinced German authorities his [enamelware] factory was vital and that he needed trained workers. But Schindler did not author or dictate the list of who would go on the transport...

The famed list was actually comprised of nine different lists made over the course of several years, compiled largely by a Jewish man named Marcel Goldberg, a reportedly corrupt member of the security police. Schindler allegedly suggested names for the lists, but was largely unaware of which people he was saving. 

Contrary to Spielberg's film, Schindler was in prison for bribery while Marcel Goldberg wrote the first four lists. 

In the film, the girl in the red coat is the catalyst for Schindler's moral transformation, but historically, this moment never happened. While he did witness a similar scene about a year later, and while that particular girl did exist, she wasn't part of the roundup Schindler witnessed in the movie. He eventually did undergo such a transformation, though it was much slower than depicted onscreen.

While Oskar Schindler was undoubtedly a hero to those he saved from concentration camps, his peers reported him to be narcissistic, self-absorbed, and greedy. In his widow Emilie Schindler's memoir, he is characterized as an adulterous womanizer, and he reportedly had two children out of wedlock whom he largely ignored.

Schindler's allegiance to Hitler's party was alleged to be inconsistent and was only acted upon when such a tie served his ends. Even decades after his passing, Schindler's legacy is still heavily divisive.

At the beginning of WWII, Schindler forced Jews to work in his factory, preferring their labor over that of Polish workers because impoverished Jews would work for less, if not for free. Spielberg's film does touch on this element of Schindler's past, albeit briefly.