Schindler's List - Itzhak Stern

Itzhak Stern
A main character in Schindler’s List is a Jewish accountant named Itzhak Stern. The movie takes place during the Holocaust, about 1941 – 1945. Oskar Schindler starts a business called Emaillewarenfabrik with Itzhak Stern as the accountant. Oskar Schindler chose Itzhak because of his extraordinary traits, for example, being observant, wise, useful, intuitive, brave, and caring.
Itzhak Stern is very observant. When the Nazi’s invaded his home town, he starts packing. He realizes that he has to obey the orders of the Nazis to ensure the safety of his own life. He notes that members of the Jewish race are being criticized, cast out, and even killed. Oskar Schindler hires Itzhak as the accountant to his new business, not knowing that together they will save countless lives. Itzhak accepts the job, and he is wise enough to realize he can protect a lot of Jewish people’s lives by employment in an enamelware factory. During the movie, Itzhak Stern was useful to Oskar Schindler, but for the most part, he is instrumental to the survival of many Jews. Itzhak forged documents to make doctors, teachers, musicians and nurses to appear as if they were skilled, hard-working factory laborers. Itzhak’s intuitive nature prevails as he silently manipulates his ability to put Oskar through guilt trips, to release Oskar’s strong moral side, to tell him he can save an abundance of Jews by employing additional Jewish workers in his factory. "I know what you're doing," Oskar says in the movie, referring to Stern's maneuverings to bring more endangered Jews to the "haven" of Schindler's factory. Itzhak Stern was just as brave as he was caring. As World War II progresses, and the fate of the Jewish race becoming more and more apparent, Itzhak searched for a way to help some of his fellow Jews. Recognizing that he could use Jewish slave labor to staff his factory at a lower price than Polish laborers, Oskar asked Itzhak to find Jews that would work for him, in trade for pots and pans. Initially, Itzhak’s motivation to save his people was abundantly clear, so he found over 1,100 Jews to work for Oskar. These scenes provide an opportunity to discuss the ways in which humans respond to moral expectations of those around them. In this sense, morality is a social product. A society's values are sustained by mutual expectations. If we expect people to act decently, they will discover the decency in themselves. While the initial relationship between Itzhak and Oskar was purely business, by the end, a strong friendship has arisen, although Itzhak is Jewish and Oskar is not.