Audiobook

Schindler's List by Thomas Keneally

I love the movie but wanted to learn more about Schindler.

Review taken from bookishelf.com:

Thomas Keneally’s Schindler’s List (or Schindler’s Ark) is an account of how the Nazi member and industrialist Oskar Schindler rescued over a thousand Jews from very probable death from at Auschwitz, by protecting them as workers at his enamel ware factory. Thomas Keneally won the Man Booker Prize for Schindler’s List in 1982.

Schindler’s List by Thomas Keneally is a true demonstration of courage and integrity that people should have followed during WWII. This story tells about the lives of the Jewish people in Poland during WWII and how by one man. Over 1200 Jew’s lives were saved by Oscar Schindler, a business man from Czechoslovakia. Oscar Schindler acquainted himself with power members of the Nazi party in order to build up favors in case he ever needed them. Jews were being forced to register and wear a yellow Star of David in order to distinguish themselves from the rest of society. Soldiers would cut off their side curls in the street to make a mockery of them.

“Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire.”

As the German occupation increased, Jewish residents were tossed out of their homes and forced to all live in a 16 square block walled ghetto located south of the Vistula River in Poland. The liquidation of the ghetto lead by Amon Goeth, Nazi officer, forced everyone out of their occupancy and into the Plaszow forced labour camp. Oskar Schindler with the help of Itzhak Stern, a member of the Jewish community, set up a metal works plant so that the Jews were able to escape, if only for a moment, from the brutality of the concentration camp where they were forced to fight for survival. His factory was known to all who worked there as a piece of heaven in the depths of hell.

Schindler strike a deal with Amon that included Amon receive a said amount of the profits that came in for the labour that was required to run the factory. Amon let it slip to Oscar that he was ordered to send all the prisoners to Auschwitz where they would ultimately face death. With this horrifying news, Schindler set out on a mission to save those who had become so dear to his heart.

“The principle was, death should not be entered like some snug harbor. It should be an unambiguous refusal to surrender.”

The story of Oscar Schindler is one that would not be easily forgotten. This man saved the lives of 1200 Jews and their descendants who would have other wise been killed in the massacre of WWII. Although this is a great story of survival, it gets you thinking about all the other people who weren’t as lucky to have worked for such a man. Thousands of Jews died in the worst conditions possible and for those who did survive, they faced the memories of the suffering and the violence that happened before their eyes.

It was inspiring to see Schindler when his mind set changed from making money to saving lives. Itzhak Stern had a huge part to play in the conversion of Schindler because he was in charge of the factory, so he was the one who did all the hiring. Stern worked relentlessly in making sure that as many people as possible were able to come to the ‘place of refuge.’ Schindler created a future for so many who thought there was nothing else for them.

“He was one of those men who, even in the years of peace, would have advised his congregation that while God may well be honored by the inflexibility of the pious, he might also be honored by the flexibility of the sensible.”

Steven Spielberg’s film by the same name has made the book Schindler’s List and the tale world famous so there probably is little need to outline the plot. Possibly one of the most memorable scenes in the film, partly because of the iconic girl in a red coat, the liquidation of Jewish ghetto in Krakow is, similarly, a quite brilliantly described moment in the book. Much of it is seen from the point of view of Oscar Schindler who has a high vantage point on top of a hill overlooking the town, while out riding. He notices the girl and is appalled that the violence he is witnessing is being carried out in full view of an innocent child.

There is a revelatory moment for Schindler as realizes that this is not just a few out of control soldiers but officially sanctioned actions. The soldiers do not expect to face consequences. He is shocked and sickened, and his response is a reminder for the reader of the problems of hindsight.

almost ashamed of the shallowness of my reading list...last three I've read

Brother Odd, Dean Koontz
Hidden Order, Brad Thor
finishing: Eye of the Needle, Ken Follett

^ I can read anything that I find entertaining. I don’t need any real depth. I can go any different direction but it better be good.

Been reading a helmet for my pillow

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A Russian Gentleman in Moscow-Amor Towles.

No shame, Delta. Brother Odd was highly entertaining IMO

Eye of the Needle (really anything Follett) was great!

I enjoyed all the Odd Thomas books on audio.

A Confederacy of Dunces

Convergence by Craig Alanson, Narrated by R.C. Bray.
Really funny especially if you've ever had a dog. Good book by Alanson and R.C. Bray is an excellent narrator.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Convergence-Audiobook/B09ZZ8VMKL 

Here are a few I've reread several times and worth while every time.

Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
https://www.audible.com/pd/Rich-Dad-Poor-Dad-Audiobook/B008BT3C1Q 

The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Richest-Man-in-Babylon-Audiobook/B00DC8GDVC 

The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt (The Phoenix Project by Gene Kim is also excellent)
https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Goal-Audiobook/B00IFG88SM 

Rise and Kill First- Ronen Bergman

A very detailed history of Israel's targeted assassination programs.

Why Nations Go To War, John G. Stoessinger, discusses the wars of the 20th century and the people who started them.

Okinawa - The Last Battle of World War II
Robert Leckie

Thanks to Gene for recommending this author.

My FIL served as an interpreter during the Okinawa campaign. One night I asked him about his experience in the war and in a tone and look that told me we would never talk about it again, he said, “You see things you never want to see again.” He has since passed on so kinda reading this in his honor.

Adding another 43 titles since my last posting:

Mosquito: Menacing the Reich - Bowman, Martin W.
One-Man Airforce [Illustrated Edition] - Gentile, Major Don Salvatore
Battle for the Solomons - Wolfert, Ira
General Leemy's Circus - Snyder, Earl A.
By Tank into Normandy - Hills, Stuart
Coral Comes High - Hunt, George P.
Black Thursday: The Story of the Schweinfurt Raid - Caidin, Martin
Nancy Wake - FitzSimons, Peter
Admiral Halsey’s Story - III, William F. Halsey; Bryan, J.
Thirty-Five Missions Over Japan - Webster, 1st Lt. Philip D.; Webster, Charlotte B.
Unsung Eagles - Stout, Jay
Guerilla Wife - Spencer, Louise Reid
Fifty Years on the Trail - Nelson, John Young
Wrath in Burma - Eldridge, Fred
What Every BODY is Saying - Navarro, Joe; Karlins, Marvin
Carrier! Life Aboard a World War II Aircraft Carrier - Miller, Lt. Commander Max
**** Behind the Lines - Gilling, Tom
Bringing the Thunder - Robertson, Gordon
Hijacked - Hirschman, Dave
The Battle for Iwo Jima - Leckie, Robert
Vanished Hero - Stout, Jay A.
"A Few Acres of Snow" - Leckie, Robert
U-Boat Killer - Macintyre, Donald
The Dutch Resistance 1940–45 - Castelein, Klaas; Wenting, Michel
The Bush Crime Family - Stone, Roger; Hunt, Saint John
The Forgotten Fleet - Winton, John
War in the Pacific: Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay - Winton, John
Hey Doc!: The Battle of Okinawa as Remembered by a Marine Corpsman - Wells, Ed
Mother of Normandy - Stoffer, Jeff
Slaughter at Goliad - Stout, Jay A.
Air Apaches - Stout, Jay A.
Talking to Strangers - Gladwell, Malcolm
White House Call Girl - Stanford, Phil
Fighter Group - Stout, Jay A.
The Bomber Mafia - Gladwell, Malcolm
Zero Night: The Untold Story of World War Two's Greatest Escape - Felton, Mark
Facing the Mountain - Brown, Daniel James
The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez - Benavidez, Roy P.; Griffin, Oscar
Silent Coup - Colodny, Len
Happy Odyssey - Wiart, Adrian Carton De
Ignition! - Clark, John Drury
Black Cats and Dumbos - Crocker, Mel

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@palama leckie wrote a helmet for my pillow last book I read. I need to open one. It’s like a cigar for me I don’t know what I want.

I just passed helmet for my to a buddy last night at his super bowl party. Worth a go I liked it

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@palama leckie wrote a helmet for my pillow last book I read. I need to open one. It’s like a cigar for me I don’t know what I want.

I just passed helmet for my to a buddy last night at his super bowl party. Worth a go I liked it

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maybe it's me, but I don't understand either post above, Jake.
usually I'm gud wif wurds

I mighta figgered it out...never mind

Excuse my grammar there frank. When I’m on my phone/texts, and lots of times on the forum here I type shorthanded with my thumbs. Stuff comes out pretty shoddy. My friends harass me about it. I forget you guys don’t know me on a super personal level.

I was suggesting another book by leckie

Also compared a book to cigars. I have a hard time picking one out. I’ve read a lot of duds and they’re a total drag.

I’ll try to do better. I get in a hurry lol

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May your FIL rest in peace. You may, or may not, want to read a book in the list above.

Facing the Mountain by Brown, Daniel James

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/55920278 

Facing the Mountain has a lot of disturbing details about the Nisei units, 100 & 442, that fought in Europe and what happened to their families before they volunteered.

I have three similar books on my reading list that address the roll of Nisei interpreters/soldiers that fought in the Pacific.

I really like Robert Leckie's books. For the story of Okinawa a contemporary of Leckie was Eugene Sledge, his book, With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa covers the fight for Okinawa from a very personal level.

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