# Oskar Schindler in Schindler's List - Why didn't he just make real munitions and use the money to save more Jews? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020 "2022-09-05T22:37:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/1 "2022-09-05T22:37:33Z")
Hopefully this isn’t considered spoilers since I assume everyone has seen this movie. But the powerful ending of Schindlers List where he breaks down in tears about how he could have sold his car or his gold pin to save “just a few more”. For some reason it got me thinking, when he’s breaking down like that, doesn’t he realize just how many people he could have saved if he just made actual working munitions instead of having to bribe other munitions factories to then get their munitions and pass it off as his own. I get it, “If you’re making actual munitions and those munitions are killing others it defeats the purpose of then saving people” but the fact that it’s been proven in combat that something like less than 1% of the bullets are actually used to hurt/kill people and the rest are either misses or destroyed in some way or another, it really seems like he could have saved millions and just saved a lot more Jews. I’ve heard alternating things about if in real life Oskar actually did sabotage his own munitions so I don’t quite know the truth about it fully but it really makes it seem like he should have just made actual munitions if he wanted to save the most people total. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/2 "2022-09-05T22:56:39Z")
I believe he thought that if he made actual munitions, he was directly aiding the German Army; that was the last thing he wanted to do. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/3 "2022-09-05T23:00:24Z")
Or to put it another way, manufacturing faulty munitions would speed Germany’s defeat, which potentially would save more lives than extra money ever could have. ---
**Author:** ![OttoDaFe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ottodafe/32/356_2.png) [@OttoDaFe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OttoDaFe)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2022, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/4 "2022-09-05T23:08:01Z")
Also, the “purchase” of the _Schindlerjuden_ took place before he relocated to Brünnlitz so any money he saved there would have been irrelevant. Even if there were any local Jews (doubtful), there wasn’t a Goth whom he knew well enough to hornswoggle into releasing them. His regret was that he’d blown so much on high living in Kraków. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/5 "2022-09-06T01:03:45Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Hopefully this isn’t considered spoilers since I assume everyone has seen this movie. I was making out while it was playing. Anyway, as already posted I think he was remorseful of his extravagant lifestyle while people were still being exterminated. Jewelry, cars, fine dining and clothing while those he meant to save lived in squalor and were still being murdered. Giving up some of his posh lifestyle may have done more than any of those other actions mentioned. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/6 "2022-09-06T01:28:47Z")
Meh, he was named “righteous among the nations”, and Jewish people put stones on his grave to honor him. He must have done something right. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/7 "2022-09-06T06:55:34Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > Or to put it another way, manufacturing faulty munitions would speed Germany’s defeat But draw the attention of investigators who could get him and all the people he was protecting swiftly disposed of. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/8 "2022-09-06T16:22:38Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I was making out while it was playing. Wow! What do you put on when you want to score? Faces of Death? ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/9 "2022-09-06T20:14:12Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I was making out while it was playing. I hope you made sure Newman wasn’t in the theater. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/10 "2022-09-06T22:14:58Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > > [@pkbites](#): > > > > I was making out while it was playing. > > Wow! What do you put on when you want to score? Faces of Death? In case you haven’t picked up on the joke yet: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SRu2DQb6n0E/hqdefault.jpg "Seinfeld - Schindler's List") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRu2DQb6n0E) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/11 "2022-09-06T23:31:23Z")
Ah, I see. I’ve never watched Seinfeld. Seems about as funny as Schindler’s List however. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2022, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/12 "2022-09-06T23:45:01Z")
On “Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist”, a patient tells him that he’d just seen Schindler’s List, adding, “To tell you the truth, I didn’t think it was that funny”. The doctor asks, “Where were you sitting?” ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oskar-schindler-in-schindlers-list-why-didnt-he-just-make-real-munitions-and-use-the-money-to-save-more-jews/971020/13 "2022-09-07T00:02:07Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Meh, he was named “righteous among the nations”, and Jewish people put stones on his grave to honor him. He must have done something right. The people who do the most right are very often precisely the ones who worry most that they’re not doing enough.