Ben Kingsley: Itzhak Stern

La Lista de Schindler

Itzhak Stern

Oskar Schindler: I could have got more out. I could have got more. I don't know. If I'd just... I could have got more.
Itzhak Stern: Oskar, there are eleven hundred people who are alive because of you. Look at them.
Oskar Schindler: If I'd made more money... I threw away so much money. You have no idea. If I'd just...
Itzhak Stern: There will be generations because of what you did.
Oskar Schindler: I didn't do enough!
Itzhak Stern: You did so much.
[Schindler looks at his car]
Oskar Schindler: This car. Goeth would have bought this car. Why did I keep the car? Ten people right there. Ten people. Ten more people.
[removing Nazi pin from lapel]
Oskar Schindler: This pin. Two people. This is gold. Two more people. He would have given me two for it, at least one. One more person. A person, Stern. For this.
[sobbing]
Oskar Schindler: I could have gotten one more person... and I didn't! And I... I didn't!

Itzhak Stern: It's Hebrew, it's from the Talmud. It says, "Whoever saves one life, saves the world entire."

Itzhak Stern: This list... is an absolute good. The list is life. All around its margins lies the gulf.

[Stern brings a report to Schindler at lunchtime]
Oskar Schindler: I could try to read this or I could eat my lunch while it's still hot. We're doing well?
Itzhak Stern: Yes.
Oskar Schindler: Better this month than last?
Itzhak Stern: Yes.
Oskar Schindler: Any reason to think next month will be worse?
Itzhak Stern: The war could end.

Itzhak Stern: I'm sorry, Herr Direktor, you're running very late. Here, this is for the Obersturmbahnführer and this is for his niece, it's her birthday, Greta. Greta as in Garbo.
Oskar Schindler: By the way, don't *ever* do that to me again. Didn't you notice that man only had one arm?
Itzhak Stern: Did he.
Oskar Schindler: What's his use?
[gets into his car]
Itzhak Stern: Very useful.
Oskar Schindler: [shouts from car window] How?
Itzhak Stern: [shouts back] Very useful! Success!

Oskar Schindler: I've been speaking to Goeth.
Itzhak Stern: I know the destination. These are the evacuation orders, I'm to help arrange the shipments, put myself on the last train.
Oskar Schindler: That's not what I was going to say. I made Goeth promise to put in a good word for you. Nothing bad is going to happen to you there, you'll receive special treatment.
Itzhak Stern: The directives coming in from Berlin talk about "special treatment" more and more often. I'd like to think that's not what you mean.
Oskar Schindler: Preferential treatment. All right? Do we have to create a new language?
Itzhak Stern: I think so.

Itzhak Stern: Let me understand. They put up all the money. I do all the work. What, if you don't mind my asking, would you do?
Oskar Schindler: I'd make sure it's known the company's in business. I'd see that it had a certain panache. That's what I'm good at. Not the work, not the work... the presentation.

[the morning after Schindler leaves Brinnlitz, a Russian officer finds the workers]
Russian officer: You have been liberated by the Soviet army!
Itzhak Stern: Have you been in Poland?
Russian officer: I just came from Poland.
Itzhak Stern: Are there any Jews left?
Michael Lemper: Where should we go?
Russian officer: Don't go east, that's for sure. They hate you there. I wouldn't go west either, if I were you.
Chaim Nowak: We could use some food.
Russian officer: Isn't that a town over there?

Itzhak Stern: Do you have any money hidden away someplace that I don't know about?
Oskar Schindler: No. Why, am I broke?
Itzhak Stern: Uh, well...

Itzhak Stern: What did Goeth say about this? You just told him how many people you needed, and...
[suddenly realizing what Schindler is planning]
Itzhak Stern: You're *not* buying them?
[Schindler says nothing; Stern is stunned]
Itzhak Stern: You're *buying* them? You're paying him for each of these names?
Oskar Schindler: If you were still were still working for me, I'd expect you to talk me out of it. It's costing me a fortune.

Itzhak Stern: The standard SS rate for skilled Jewish workers is seven marks a day, five for unskilled and women. This is what you pay to the Reich Economic Office. The Jews themselves receive nothing. Poles you pay wages. Generally, they get a little more. Are you listening?
Oskar Schindler: What was that about the SS? The rate? The what?
Itzhak Stern: The Jewish worker's salary - you pay it directly to the SS, not to the worker. He gets nothing.
Oskar Schindler: But it's less. It's less than what I would pay to a Pole.
Itzhak Stern: It's less.
Oskar Schindler: That's the point I'm trying to make. Poles cost more. Why should I hire Poles?

Oskar Schindler: Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.
Itzhak Stern: I think I'd better have it now.

[after Schindler pulls him off a train bound for the work camps]
Itzhak Stern: Somehow I left my work card at home. I tried to explain to them that it was a mistake, but... I'm sorry. It was stupid!
Oskar Schindler: What if I got here five minutes later? Then where would I be?

Itzhak Stern: [Oskar has apparently handed him cyanide capsules] Don't let things fall apart, Oskar. I work too hard.

S.S. Guard: Occupation?
Moses: I am a writer. I play the flute.
Itzhak Stern: But Moses is also a skilled metal worker. He can make pots, he can make tanks, he can make whatever Mr Schindler asks.

Oskar Schindler: People die! It's a fact of life! He wants to kill everybody? Great. What am I supposed to do about it? Bring everybody over? Is that what you think? Send them over to Schindler. Send them all. His place is a haven, didn't you know? It's not a factory. It's not an enterprise of any kind. It's a haven! For rabbis, and orphans, and people with no skills whatsoever! You think I don't know what you're doing? You're so quiet all the time. I know. I know!
Itzhak Stern: Are you losing money?
Oskar Schindler: No, I'm not losing money. That's not the point!
Itzhak Stern: What other point is there?
Oskar Schindler: It's dangerous! It's dangerous to me.

Oskar Schindler: [after informing Itzhak he's going to be sent to Auschwitz] Someday this is all going to end, you know. I was going to say we'll have a drink then.
Itzhak Stern: I think I better have it now.