Schindler’s List

Schindler’s List

by

Thomas Keneally

Brinnlitz (or Brünnlitz) was a Nazi forced labor camp that housed Oskar Schindler’s armaments factory after Płaszów was disbanded. Brinnlitz was front that Schindler used to save his 1,200 Jewish prisoners from being sent to Auschwitz.

Brinnlitz Quotes in Schindler’s List

The Schindler’s List quotes below are all either spoken by Brinnlitz or refer to Brinnlitz. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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).
Chapter 31 Quotes

Oskar later estimated that he spent 100,000 RM.—nearly $40,000—to grease the transfer to Brinnlitz. Few of his survivors would ever find the figure unlikely, though there were those who shook their heads and said, “No, more! It would have to have been more than that.”

Related Characters: Oskar Schindler, Colonel Erich Lange , Sussmuth
Page Number: 289
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 32 Quotes

Three or four miles out into the hills, following a rail siding, they came to the industrial hamlet of Brinnlitz, and saw ahead in thin morning light the solid bulk of the Hoffman annex transformed into Arbeitslager (Labor Camp) Brinnlitz, with watchtowers, a wire fence encircling it, a guard barracks inside the wire, and beyond that the gate to the factory and the prisoners’ dormitories.

As they marched in through the outer gate, Oskar appeared from the factory courtyard, wearing a Tyrolean hat.

Related Characters: Oskar Schindler
Page Number: 302
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 33 Quotes

“I’m getting them out,” Schindler rumbled. He did not go into explanations. He did not publicly surmise that the SS in Auschwitz might need to be bribed. He did not say that he had sent the list of women to Colonel Erich Lange, or that he and Lange both intended to get them to Brinnlitz according to the list. Nothing of that. Simply “I’m getting them out.”

Related Characters: Oskar Schindler, Colonel Erich Lange
Related Symbols: Lists
Page Number: 311
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 34 Quotes

This deft subversion may not have satisfied Liepold and Schoenbrun. For the sitting had not reached a formal conclusion; it had not ended in a judgment. But they could not complain that Oskar had avoided a hearing, or treated it with levity.

Dresner’s account, given later in his life, raises the supposition that Brinnlitz maintained its prisoners’ lives by a series of stunts so rapid that they were nearly magical. To tell the strict truth though, Brinnlitz, both as a prison and as a manufacturing enterprise, was itself, of its nature and in a literal sense, the one sustained, dazzling, integral confidence trick.

Related Characters: Oskar Schindler, Janek Dresner , Commandant Josef Liepold
Page Number: 340
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 35 Quotes

For the factory produced nothing. “Not a shell,” Brinnlitz prisoners will still say, shaking their heads. Not one 45mm shell manufactured there could be used, not one rocket casing.

Related Characters: Oskar Schindler
Page Number: 341
Explanation and Analysis:
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Schindler’s List PDF

Brinnlitz Term Timeline in Schindler’s List

The timeline below shows where the term Brinnlitz appears in Schindler’s List. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 31
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Anti-Semitism and Dehumanization Theme Icon
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Sussmuth has a list of possible camp sites, and one is a textile plant in Brinnlitz (near Schindler’s hometown of Zwittau). Schindler knows he’ll meet resistance from the locals but goes... (full context)
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...Sussmuth, the Berlin Armaments Board gives approval for Schindler’s armaments company to be located in Brinnlitz. Local government officials are unhappy, but they can do little to resist. At one point,... (full context)
Chapter 32
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...supervises the camp Gröss-Rosen (and who will have ultimate authority over Schindler’s new camp at Brinnlitz). Fortunately, Hassebroeck sees Schindler’s Brinnlitz camp as a chance to expand his own mini-empire. (full context)
Virtue and Selflessness Theme Icon
...of Goldberg’s interference, Schindler mostly gets the people he wanted to come with him to Brinnlitz. Pfefferberg, accidentally overlooked by Schindler and unable to provide a diamond for Goldberg, gets some... (full context)
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...seems to be frozen in a pre-war time. At last, they reach the factory at Brinnlitz, where they are greeted by Schindler in a Tyrolean hat. (full context)
Chapter 33
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As with Emalia, Schindler equips his Brinnlitz camp at his own expense. Among his expenses are all the facilities he has to... (full context)
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In Brinnlitz, the men arrive to a mostly empty camp that doesn’t even have bunks yet. Still,... (full context)
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Amid all the preparations for the new factory in Brinnlitz, Schindler is arrested for a third time. Gestapo show up after a truck from Cracow... (full context)
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Something terrible happens while Schindler is away from Brinnlitz. The new Commandant of Gröss-Rosen, Josef Liepold, comes to visit the workshop with an inspector.... (full context)
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...tells them that after he takes them to Auschwitz, he is bringing the women to Brinnlitz. At one point, the officer even appears to have tears in his eyes. He tells... (full context)
Chapter 34
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Everyone in Brinnlitz is concerned about typhus because, in addition to the health problems, it could offer a... (full context)
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...healthiest in the whole continent. Later, one of Schindler’s inmates will say that life in Brinnlitz was hard, and that Schindler never cut his own rations to match with the prisoners.... (full context)
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Schindler begins to be absent from Brinnlitz for periods of time. At one point while he’s away, 19-year-old Janek Dresner is accused... (full context)
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...take the hearing seriously. Later in life, Dresner will recall that the entire existence of Brinnlitz was often maintained through a series of precarious, confident stunts. (full context)
Chapter 35
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In fact, Brinnlitz produces nothing, not even a single shell. Schindler uses the excuse of “start-up difficulties” to... (full context)
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The birthday telegram raises the question of how Schindler’s Brinnlitz factory managed to survive the seven months before his birthday. Schindler deals with inspectors by... (full context)
Chapter 36
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...even given food for the trip. He is even more amazed when he arrives at Brinnlitz and finds “a camp left where men and women worked together, where there were no... (full context)
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...believe it. About two weeks later, they are released and amazed to find themselves at Brinnlitz, feeling just as amazed as Henigman. They are part of 11 escapees that Schindler arranged... (full context)
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Anti-Semitism and Dehumanization Theme Icon
...Steinberg was a doctor in a small Sudeten work camp. He heard a rumor about Brinnlitz and visited the camp to see if he could pick up some supplies to take... (full context)
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...subzero temperatures, Schindler orders for the two cars of Goleszów prisoners to be taken to Brinnlitz. Pfefferberg gets welding gear to cut open the cattle car doors. Inside, they find a... (full context)
Chapter 38
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...contract with the intention of using the materials to provide a starting stake for the Brinnlitz Jews. As Schindler passes over the valuable key to the room, he and Emilie are... (full context)
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After the SS leave, all that remains in Brinnlitz is a German Kapo with a deadly reputation. Some male prisoners hang him from a... (full context)
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Those remaining in Brinnlitz hang false signs about a typhus breakout to hopefully keep any lingering SS out. Some... (full context)
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At the advice of the Russian officer, the Brinnlitz prisoners finally leave the gate to see some of the outside world, the youngest ones... (full context)