Review: Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally

Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
My Goodreads rating – 4 out of 5 stars

Schindler’s Ark tells the story of Oskar Schindler, a German member of the Nazi Party who saved the lives of over 1,300 Jews that were living in Nazi-occupied Poland during the second world war by employing them in his factories.

I’ve studied the Holocaust in school, but I had never been taught about Oskar Schindler, and I have never seen the film adaptation Schindler’s List, so I was pretty unfamiliar with Schindler’s story. So when I saw Thomas Keneally signing copies of the book at the Hay Festival in June, I decided to pick up a copy.

This was a very harrowing read, and it actually reminded me of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I read at the beginning of the year, which centres around a young girl living in Nazi occupied Germany. Unfortunately, I do think that we can tend to demonise Germans when talking about the Holocaust, with the words “Nazi” and “German” being interchangeable at times. It is books like these that show that many Germans publically supported the Nazi party out of pure fear, and also that many, like Oscar Schindler, risked their lives to save others.

I would highly recommend Schindler’s Ark to all; over 6 million Jews were murdered during the Holocaust, and it is important that we not only talk about it, but also that we continue to learn about it by reading about it.

Have you read Schindler’s Ark? Or have you watched the film Schindler’s List? Or have you read any other powerful books about the second world war? Let me know in the comments 🙂