Schindler's List Page #13

STERN:

I somehow left my work card at home.

I tried to tell them it was a mistake,

but they --

Schindler silences him with a look. He's livid. Stern glances

down at the ground.

STERN:

I'm sorry. It was stupid.

(contrite)

Thank you.

Schindler turns away and heads for the car. Stern hurries

after him. They pass an area where all the luggage, carefully

tagged, has been left -- the image becoming BLACK and WHITE.

EXT./INT. MECHANICS GARAGE - NIGHT

Mechanics' hood-lamps throw down pools of light through which

me wheel handcarts piled high with suitcases, briefcases,

steamer trunks -- BLACK and WHITE.

Moving along with one of the handcarts into a huge garage

past racks of clothes, each item tagged, past musical

instruments, furniture, paintings, against one wall --

children's toys, sorted by size.

The cart stops. A valise is handed to someone who dumps and

sorts the contents on a greasy table. The jewelry is taken

to another area, to a pit, one of two deep lubrication bays

filled with watches, bracelets, necklaces, candelabra,

Passover platters, gold in one, silver the other, and tossed

in.

At workbenches, four Jewish jewelers under SS guard sift and

sort and weigh and grade diamonds, pearls, pendants, brooches

children's rings -- faltering only once, when a uniformed

figure upends a box, spilling out gold teeth smeared with

blood -- the image saturating with COLOR.

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - DAY

Fractured gravestones like broken teeth jut from the earth

of a neglected Jewish cemetery outside of town. Down the

road that runs alongside it comes a German staff car.

INT. STAFF CAR - MOVING - DAY

In the backseat, Untersturmfuhrer Amon Goeth pulls on a flask

of schnapps. His age and build are about that of Schindler's;

his face open and pleasant.

GOETH:

Make a nice driveway.

The other SS officers in the car -- Knude, Haase and Hujar --

aren't sure what he means. He's peering out the window at

the tombstones.

EXT. GHETTO - DAY

The staff car passes through the portals of the ghetto and

down the trolley lines of Lwowska Street.

INT. STAFF CAR - MOVING - DAY

As the car slowly cruises through the ghetto, Knude, like a

tour guide, briefs the new man, Goeth --

KNUDE:

This street divides the ghetto just

about in half. On the right -- Ghetto

A:
civil employees, industry workers,

so on. On the left, Ghetto B: surplus

labor, the elderly mostly. Which is

where you'll probably want to start.

The look Goeth gives Knude tells him to refrain, if he would,

from offering tactical opinions.

KNUDE:

Of course that's entirely up to you.

EXT. PLASZOW FORCED LABOR SITE - DAY

Outside of town, a previously abandoned limestone quarry

lies nestled between two hills. The stone and brick buildings

look like they've been here forever; the wooden structures,

those that are up, are built of freshly-cut lumber.

There's a great deal of activity. New construction and

renovation -- foundations being poured, rail tracks being

laid, fences and watchtowers going up, heavy segments of

huts -- wall panels, eaves sections -- being dragged uphill

by teams of bescarved women like some ancient Egyptian

industry.

Goeth surveys the site from a knoll, clearly pleased with

it.

But then he's distracted by voices -- a man's, a woman's --

arguing down where some barracks are being erected.

The woman breaks off the dialog with a disgusted wave of her

hand and stalks back to a half-finished barracks. The man,

one from the car, Hujar, sees Goeth, Knude and Haase coming

down the hill and moves to meet them.

HUJAR:

She says the foundation was poured

wrong, she's got to take it down. I

told her it's a barracks, not a

f***ing hotel, f***ing Jew engineer.

Goeth watches the woman moving around the shell of the

building, pointing, directing, telling the workers to take

it all down. He goes to take a closer look. She comes over.

ENGINEER:

The entire foundation has to be dug

up and re-poured. If it isn't, the

thing will collapse before it's even

completed.

Goeth considers the foundation as if he knew about such

things. He nods pensively. Then turns to Hujar.

GOETH:

(calmly)

Shoot her.

It's hard to tell which is more stunned by the order, the

woman or Hujar. Both stare at Goeth in disbelief. He gives

her the reason along with a shrug --

GOETH:

You argued with my man.

(to Hujar)

Shoot her.

Hujar unholsters his pistol but holds it limply at his side.

The workers become aware of what's happening and still their

hammers.

HUJAR:

Sir...

Goeth groans and takes the gun from him and puts it to the

woman's head. Calmly to her --

GOETH:

I'm sure you're right.

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