30 Facts You Didn't Know About Schindler's List 

I was 13 years old. My parents took me to the theatre to watch it as WW2 and the Holocaust was apart of my school exams. From start to finish no one in the theatre moved. When the credits rolled, no one moved, no one said a word. We all sat there in silence until the lights went on. I’ve never experienced anything like it ever again. The movie is a solid piece of movie history and reminder of a terrible moment in human history.

The current First Lady of Poland is the granddaughter of a woman who was on Schindler's list. She was the only member who survived

Not gonna lie....I saw this movie for the first time when I was 11 years old, living in Japan, because my father was stationed there. I saw a warning about violence and nudity, and was "all in".....What followed was two hours of history....It changed my life...This movie should be required viewing....

I remember forging my parents signatures on the permission slip to see this for history class, and came away stunned. Schools didn't cover the Holocaust in any way like this film and it brought a gritty realism to what we only got in a couple pages in books. There was a huge uproar at the school after some kids came home completely traumatized, and I'm glad to this day that the teachers stood their ground and continued showing this in the years after as part of their class.

The little girl in the red coat to me represented the innocent. She casually walked through the chaos that was going on around her, people being pushed out of their homes, people being shot, and people who were forced onto the trains going to their deaths. She walked through all of it and went to go hide. She held your gaze as if she could have been your own daughter. When we see her in a wheel barrow it’s like they stripped that hope away and you’re left thinking “those murderers and bastards. Why’d they have to kill her?”

I had forgotten how hauntingly beautiful the score is.

Upon the movie's release, I attended a showing in which the theater was packed, When the final credits rolled, I witnessed something I have never ever seen in a theater. The atmosphere was solemn as people sat quietly, then exited slowly without anyone saying a word, with the exception of soft crying and others wiping tears.

Those who ignore history, are destined to repeat it. Deep respect for Schindler

I have a strong connection with this movie because when I was in elementary school, one of my teachers was an actual Holocaust survivor and she had the tattoos on her arms, but some ignorant classmates thought that it was cool, I just saw them and knew what they meant… Such a horrific time in history

When the descendants of the people saved by Schindler’s list file past in colour, I just become a basket case. What a brilliant way to reinforce the importance and impact of that list in real life.

I took a class on Nazi Germany which required a great deal of reading, writing and thinking about this terrible time in history. It went on for a full semester, and by the end, I felt traumatized in a way no other class had ever done to me. The class delved deeply into the whole situation and is forever etched into my mind and psyche. I am glad I took the class, since it brought me up close to the time, but at the end, I remember coming home, sitting at my table, and sobbing uncontrollably for a time, as if my heart had broken into a million pieces, which it had done. The impact of this class was stronger than any I ever took and I will never forget it. Schindler's List ranks with the same weight on my heart as this class, even though it did not go on as long as the class, and bravo to those people who can, and are willing to bring this dark time into the light for us all to remember.

I saw the film in the theater when it first came out, I was about 30. I remember being haunted by it for days, no movie before it had done the same. Nor since. The barbarity, the banality of evil, "it's policy now". This film does indeed bear witness to murder, and it's so important to continue to do so.

You don't watch Shindler's List, you experience it. Riveting.

It was the greatest and at the same time the most painful movie to watch. The actors were traumatized during just filming it. I cannot even imagine the pain of the poor people who survived and died in real life. I spent time with famlies of survivors growing up in the 70s and the pain was openly talked about but never taught to me in school except for the Diary of Anne Frank. I did not know how awful it was. Thank you to all who worked so hard to share their stories and never forget.

Liam Neeson should have won the oscar

I remember watching it in the theatre with my Grandmother. I felt like a monster because I wasn't crying like most were. (I still found it extremely somber) Then when the end came where Schindler is bashing himself for being greedy and not saving just one more life, the floodgates opened for me. (It still does to this day) For me the girl in the red coat, I noticed right away and asked my Grandmother "This is a black and white movie, right?" My Grandmother said "Yea." I said "That girl is wearing a red coat" My Grandmother responded "Yea......wow." I think we both knew that we'd see that little girl later in the movie no longer alive. Though I'm loathe to bring up another monster, it reminded me of Stalin's comment: "A million dead is a statistic, one dead is a tragedy"

30 years later:Still an unforgettable masterpiece

Schindler's List is still a masterpiece. I cannot believe that this movie turns 30 this year. One of the greatest films EVER made even though it is a very dark, somber and heartbreaking film.

This movie was so hard to watch. Not because it was bad but it just shows how a powerful of a movie this was and it’s unforgettable

It wasn't a "brutal depiction", it was simply an accurate depiction

It's not just the Jews who have the duty to make sure that no one ever forgets the Holocaust, it's also those of us who have friends that survived the holocaust and parents who liberated the nazi death camps

Man what a great guy Robin Williams was... How can someone bring so much joy to others and still be sad himself.

I was in Krakow this summer for a wedding, I visited the Plaszow camp, it's a beautiful park today but you can read the signs they put up all around the park describing what took place from 1943 to 1945. I filmed a mini documentary and it was very difficult to narrate knowing what took place there.

I actually took the girl in red much differently. To me it showed the individuality of the victims. When they are in a group, they lose some of their humanity. To be able to focus on one individual, you really saw her story, her struggle. To be able to focus on one, you become emotionally invested her outcome. You root for this one girl while hundreds of others are being slaughtered. I think it's emotionally easier to digest the carnage when focusing on this sweet, innocent girl and seeing things from her perspective. Then when you see her dead body with all others, you then can feel how that story played out exponentially with hundreds of little girls just like her. The weight of that is so emotional and draws you into the movie and makes your heart ache for the millions of people that suffered the same fate as she did. It's so heavy but heavy with a purpose. Additionally I didn't think the red of her coat meant anything other than being able to pick her out in a crowd, though I don't think her wearing blood red was by accident.

This masterpiece should top anyone’s list of greatest film of all time. There are times when I think of this movie and tears flow. No other flick ever has evoked this type of reaction. It stays with you no matter how many years pass. Brilliant, fantastic. Really no words to describe it

When I visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, two items were on my mind, one conscious and one unconscious. I consciously looked for the Emmanuel Ringlebaum diaries, but never did find them. As I made my way through the museum I noticed a glass case at a distance. In it were what appeared to be pages from a book. I edged closer (the museum was crowded with school children) I saw that they were typewritten pages. In an instant, I realized what I was seeing. I reached the glass case and, in spite of the rules, I had to put my hand on the glass for it was Schindler's List. I stood there crying my eyes out, sobbing uncontrollably. I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned to see a very pretty high school girl and she handed me a tissue. I will never, ever forget that moment. Not ever. I will return to Yad Vashem and I will find the diaries, but will read the transcript first. Schindler's List is one of the most important films ever made. I'll never say it should be required viewing (that's up to the individual), but I cannot recommend it highly enough. As for the musical score it is, in my opinion, John Williams' greatest work. Everyone remembers Star Wars, but this masterpiece relegates all Williams' other works to second-tier status. It is pure auditory genius that wraps itself around the visual impact and brutality of the film.

I worked on Shindler's List with Stevie Spielberg in late summer of 1972. He knew about the Jewish tombstones as pavements, but upside down and paved over. List was always Steven's ultimate achievement.

I watched this movie for the first time like 7 years ago late at night. I was so shaken by the entire thing. It is probably still my favorite film of all time, no other movie has quite captured the same sense of terror, hope and sadness as this one

This movie to this day is my number one simply because of how powerful it is. It still makes me cry

My dad told me to watch it before going on a school trip to Poland to and the near by camps when I was 15, we sat and watched it together. It is such a powerful film, we both cried. to call it one of my favourites wouldn't be right but it is a meaningful and well done films I think have ever been made. it made my trip to Poland and the camps not "better" but certainly more meaningful. If you are reading this and have not seen it I beg you to watch it. it is not an easy thing to see and it can be difficult to watch at points, However, I think it is so important to understand what happened During that time. Not only to know what happened but to feel it like the film makes you feel it.

The little girl in red could also be viewed as a reference to the autobiographical novel "Night" by Elie Wisel. the last time the author saw his little sister she was wearing a little red coat.

31) Although Josef Leipold, the commandant of Schindlers Brinnlitz camp, is shown as a passive figure in the movie he was so brutal at previous camps that he was executed in 1949 for war crimes.

I agree with you, the Bach scene in the liquidation of the ghetto is also my favorite, largely because I was a sophomore piano major and I had just spent several months working on that English Suite.

SL and The Pianist should been seen by every student. They're hard movies but the value they bring are worth it

I rented the video. It took four attempts to complete the film….it was that emotional. I say this as an adult, father, and former Army Infantry Officer in Germany in the 1980’s. Even more intense than the beginning of Saving Private Ryan.

Watched this movie in grade 9 history. I havent seen it since,but it is one of those movies. Once you see it,you cant unsee it. Although my memories are vague after all these years, i do recall scenes,the story and how it made me feel.

I’ve watched much about this…I know it effected Spielberg greatly…Robin Williams seems like such a giving heart…I’m not surprised that he reached out

As an Arabian of heritage myself, it brings me a great deal of shame and disgrace how Arab nations forbid this movie out of sheer political spite. This movie is bigger than that, it is a story to compel all humans to find compassion towards one another in the darkest of moments for the purest of hearts. We must always put life before religion, ethnical bias or any political affairs that are designed to tear us apart.

Even though the movie was intentionally made in black and white, it made the film what I like to call "hyper-realism". I own this film but when I first saw it at age 8, I thought it was real. The executions were so brutally realistic, to this day I cry watching this film. To see a tiny fraction of a glimpse of how horrid and diabolical the Holocaust was. Truly horrific yet also a masterpiece. It needed to be filmed so that people don't forget how evil can take over humanity at an instant if you let yourself go numb from the atrocities that man can and have done

The little girl in the red coat was actual. She was witnessed by Schindler and his companion, walking as if invisible through utter mayhem. She was even identified, I think in the book although I no longer have a copy. She died in the Holocaust. A masterpiece of filmmaking, watchable again and again, if you can stand the subject matter. I remember when it came out, a notice appeared in Santa Monica theaters about the length, with a statement that the theater would break the film in the middle so people could go out to their cars and put more money in the meter.

I watched it as a teenager back in the 90s, maybe 13 or 14 years old. It struck me. We learn a lot about the Holocaust in school in Germany, so of course, I already knew a lot. But having it, not in a documentary, but in this movie was so different. I think, Schindlers List is one of the most important movies of all time. It is a reminder and a warning. The actors were amazing as well as the music. In a lot of schools in Germany, Schindlers List is watched in 9th or 10th grade with the whole class. Yes, it is traumatizing, but in my opinion, as a 15 or 16years old, it is time to watch it and realize how fragile our society is and how easy it is to start hating someone for being different just because someone tells you "they are the reason for your problems".

I'll never forget the first time I watched this movie when it came out. I ran out of the room crying because of how horrifying it was, shaken even more so by the fact it actually happened. I'm even more frightened that there are people who believe even now the number of lives lost during the Holocaust "wasn't enough."

Tzar Boris III of Bulgaria saved nearly 50 000. When Germany ordered Bulgaria to surrender its 50,000 Jews during World War II, the Bulgarian people refused, saving nearly all of them from deportation and death. No movie was ever made about that.

Spielberg's reply to Williams at 3:05 really reminds me of when Goeth asked Schindler what his suit is made of. And Schinder replied "I would get you one but the man who made it is probably dead." Interesting stuff.

I love the facts that people turned down parts in this movie because of how incredibly serious and important it was ❤

Liam did not get the recognition he deserved. All eyes were on the show stopping scene with Fiennes. Yet his performance was easy compared to Neeson's. He just had to be a bastard whereas Neeson had had to be more nunaucned.

This movie just affects you in ways very few can. After watching it, it stays with you forever. Easily Spielberg’s Magnus opus and Liam Neeson’s best performance, and obviously Ralph Fiennes is absolutely sensational as Amon Goeth. Who is one of the most intimidating and scary characters I have ever seen in a movie. His presence, malevolence and cruelty are incredibly impactful.

I enjoyed this - the movie is beyond words and, I have to say, if the movie doesn't bring people to tears, the theme will. It does me every time I hear it.

Saw this movie when it first came out. Theater was packed. I sat next to an older lady and her husband. At a certain point she grabbed my arm and started digging her fingers into it. So emotional, I had marks on my arm for days after.

Without a doubt one of the most important films ever made.

I haven’t seen this in years. Watching the girl crawl under the bed made me burst into tears.

You know a film is great when a re-enactment brings you to tears. This movie gives people "the feels", but it's something I could never watch again, just like The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.

This was a classic. It was moving. It evoked sadness and emotion. It was well done.

Neesom was robbed of the Oscar for his portrayal of Oskar Schindler.

Schindler feeling that he could've done more in the end made me cry so hard. I was emotionally disturbed and paused the movie for few minutes to process the scene. But then I started crying again while resuming it.

I was simply blown away by this movie. When Steven Spielberg came up at the end, I was shocked. It was like Zane Gray had turned around and written Hamlet. Taking nothing away from Spielberg's other movies, but they are schlock, this is a masterpiece.

This movie had me crying like a baby midway through the movie, so glad this masterpiece was made

One of the finest presentations I have ever seen. I did lose a distant relative in the Holocaust and this movie still has the power to conjure up my emotions on the subject.

Watched this with my Thai fiance while living in Bangkok. She's a university graduate with a bachelor's degree, however, schools in E. Asia do not teach world history at all. Her knowledge of WW2 was that the US fought the Japanese, with absolutely no knowledge of the European War, Hitler, the Nazis or the holocaust. Most Buddhists have never even heard of the Jewish faith, consequently have no knowledge of antisemitism throughout history. She was very shocked by what she was seeing and could not understand why people, who to her eyes were exactly the same as each other, were doing these things to others. I quite literally had to go all the way back to the beginning explaining the differences between the Christian and Jewish faiths, antisemitism over centuries and the attitudes that lead to this nightmare happening. Believe me when I say that the so called differences between Christians and Jews are even more ridiculous when you're trying to explain them out loud. In doing all of that explaining, I realized that reasons for the Holocaust and the justifications given for it are even worse then I thought they were while learning them as a boy, and they were pretty terrible then as well. It really does change your view of it through trying to tell the story yourself. And yes, I was there when the chicken restaurant was using a stylized picture of Hitler as their logo, but that proves my point about a complete lack of world history not being taught in every level of education though university. They had absolutely no idea who Hitler was and what his monstrous crimes were, it was just a picture of a goofy looking westerner that they liked.

The little girl in the red coat turned out to be an actual child who was smuggled out of the ghetto and survived. When she saw the film, she realized it was depicting her, Roma Ligocka . She wrote a memoir entitled “The Girl in the Red Coat”. It is an incredible story!

I remember watching this film in high school after it came out. You could hear a pin drop in that auditorium. Such a powerful film.

I didn't think I'd be so emotional seeing this, as i haven't seen the film in years. Thank you. And thank you, Stephen Spielberg. 🌹

that movie truly changed me and I was only like 14 when I first saw this film... never forget the true horror that had been inflicted on those innocent people

one of the greatest films ever made

Nicely done. I had always thought (and heard) that the hand laying the flower at the very end was Spielberg. I remember years ago, when Torrents were a thing, I downloaded "Schindler's List," thinking I was downloading the book. What it was, was a scanned copy of the actual list. It blew me away, actually seeing that list, with the tattered edges and yellowed paper. It's a very "right in the middle of the moment" historical document, to think that those names were typed in a time crunch effort to save those lives. It reminded me of another "right in the middle of the moment" document I saw....the original train manifest from the Train that left the Westerbork Transit camp in the Netherlands, on September 3, 1944 to Auschwitz. That was the train Anne Frank and the other 8 from the Annex were on. Passenger number 306...Anneliese Frank, 12.6.29, right below her mother, number 305. The yellowed original passenger list is on display at The Anne Frank house. The birthdate was important, because there was another error (liberal license) in Shchindler's list. When the train is routed to Auschwitz, they arrive at night and many of the small children were on the train (including the little girl with the glasses). The next day, they are evacuated to the new plant location, including the children. Every one of those children would have gone right to the gas chambers...it was camp policy to immediately kill every child under the age of 15, and every person over the age of 55.

This is done well. Thanks for the information and your respectful way of presenting it. Good job!

one of the most serious topics a film has ever depicted, and you still gotta use that "hey guys! I'm a happy youtube narrator guy" voice...

One of the things that hammers this film home is the score. So agonizingly heart breaking.

An amazingly accurate, touching and moral story as has ever been told.

A survivor told (not a Schindler survivor) told me if they showed how bad it really was, no one would go to it, because it would be way too difficult and depressing to watch.

Him just saying “what are you Moses” is both witty and terrifying how he jokes about it.

It's such a memory for the whole world yet Stalin killed as many Russians it's hardly ever spoken of

The scene where Schindler cries and talks about how many lives his possessions, his rings could have saved is one I'll never forget. I actually think about it quite often...when I see super wealthy people spend money on absurd things like super yachts, private planes, bling and what not. Phenomenal movie...

I could never get into this film simply because I’ve read the book so many times and it depicts and describes the conditions in both camps a lot more graphically than the film does (or could). You get a much better sense of the hopelessness of the inmates situation from the book, as well as many events that the film doesn’t show. Strange how the WJC were against filming in Auschwitz as the TV mini series War and Rememberance actually filmed their Auschwitz scenes in the real camp and not in a mock up.

Can you imagine... can you just imagine how great both this film and Robin Williams are. To make one, he needed the help of the other.

I saw it in Berlin with my German best male friend and then-girlfriend. After movies, we always went for a beer together to talk about them and chat. But this time, we couldn't say a word. My friend just said, "I think we'd better just go home".

There are movies, and then there are masterpieces. The most sorrowful thing about this film is that it actually happened. Everyone says the world is so much better now, but is it really? We must all strive for kindness and compassion in our every day lives.

I saw Thomas Keneally speak on his book “searching for Schindler”. The way pfefferberg hounded him to get the book written and the film made. He always said “an Oscar for Oskar.”

I recall when I first heard that Spielberg was doing a movie on the Shoah, aka the Holocaust. I was exceedingly angry, and in an expletive-laden rant unleashed on him. The maker of Hollywoodized mega-movies is now about to make a Hollywoodized version of the f'n Holocaust? I seethed. Then, many months later after I watched the film, I wished I could have apologized to him. I was wrong. It is a searing film not to be missed, and absorbed.

Ne of my favourite movies. Difficult to watch but essential to understand what is happening even now in the States. But I wish you had mentioned Ben Kingsley specifically as his performance was exquisite of what it must have been like to actually live in that time, under those circumstances. I'm so sorry Netflix took the movie off. I've watched it about 20 times! And now miss it.

It's one of those movies where you will cry pretty much all the way through it. But I think Schindler's List is a reminder how thankful we are to be here today. I cannot imagine the horror what those people went through

It's just so sad to think that this actually happened - and could so easily happen again

I'm convinced that the Nazi wife's stark red coat in the Band of Brothers "Why We Fight" is a direct link to the Jewish child in this film dying in the Holocaust. I don't believe there are coincidences in Spielberg's work.

"Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don't~"

my geography teacher who was born a few years be4 the war and witnessed it first hand(i am from the netherlands) showed this movie every year to all of his classes.

Brilliant documentary. Well done to "The Why" for posting it. I can see that you put a lot of effort into this documentary and that you did it with respect for both the Holocaust victims and Steven Spielberg. Once again, well done. Sadly in our world today, we still see these atrocities. Mervyn Nel Author.

We even watched Schindler's List in germany in school at about 13 years old.

One of the most haunting films ever made. I would like to know your thoughts about, "The Tin Drum (Die Blechtrommel)'" - another iconic film set during the same period of history.

I have never before this been brought to tears by a RU-vid video. I guess there’s a first time for everything.

I still cannot watch this film without weeping uncontrollably . I'm Spiritual, not Jewish. I'm amazed at how incredibly cruel, careless and oblivious, we as a race truly are. How God allows us to continue on, is mind boggling.

I think I only ever watch this movie once or twice in my 38 uears and that is enough times. It really is an absolute masterpiece.

This movie is such a piece of history. It is so mesmerizing! The film was directed beautifully and the actors were cast perfectly. I have seen it 3 times, and cry almost all the way through it. It is a project of love.

The irony of Mel Gibson wanting to play Schindler is overwhelming

So much that I took from this movie in so many ways. It's the best manual on how to do good in a world of evil

This was one of those masterpieces that should never be redone or given a sequel.

I remember when this came out. My mom and I were leaving the night before to go out of town about 2 hours away for an appointment I had the next morning. We ended up having something happen with our vehicle and didn't want to chance going that far in case something happened on the way. We ended up going to this as it had just opened that day. It was at the mall in town and there were several showings of it and we were one of the last few people to take seats in that particular theater. I was in shock and teared up several times. I had to go to the bathroom and didn't want to leave and possibly miss something. One person did leave and was back real quick. Didn't hear anyone speak during the whole movie. My mom and I would look at each other several times during various scenes in shock. Hit me hard then and has every time I have watched it and always end up with tears flowing. It's at the top of my list of movies because of how well done it was showing the history of what happened during that time.

I saw this in the cinema, by the end just about everyone was crying. It's a magnificent film but I can never watch it again.

I didn't know most of these things. Thank you for making this video, and yes we need to discuss this now.

movie still brings out so many emotions! Which is a wonderful thing; we as humans should never forget such horrible events of our past…“Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” W. C.

One of the greatest movies of all time.