Vintage footage captures German audience’s raw reaction to 'Schindler’s List' — and it's quite something

The Oscar-winning historical drama, "Schindler's List," remains a topic of intense discussion, even 31 years after its release. Steven Spielberg's portrayal of the Holocaust, its brutal imagery, nudity and dramatization sparked widespread debate. But how did German audiences respond when the film premiered in 1993? The answer might surprise you. A video shared by The Time Machine YouTube channel (@thetimemachine2219) offers a glimpse into the raw and unfiltered reactions of German moviegoers, as they were approached by the media after the screening.

The video opens with a striking moment as the first person leaves the theater, visibly distressed, and avoids sharing his thoughts. However, a couple stops to engage with the media, offering heartfelt reflections on the film. "It is really moving and I need time to process it. But these kinds of movies are important. You can see in Yugoslavia that such things repeat themselves. People should reflect more on those things and we hope that many people watch the film," the man remarked, according to the translation provided in the video's description. His companion shared her own emotional response, revealing she was deeply affected by the portrayal of families being torn apart.

Similarly, an elderly man expressed his emotions, saying, "I am devasted. I am completely exhausted." When asked what shocked him the most, he replied, "That such things could happen at all. And the man (Oskar Schindler) that he could save so many. This fills me with hope." Another viewer appeared deeply disturbed by the harsh realities depicted in "Schindler's List." He shared, "I am still agitated, but something negative remains. I can't really express it yet." Among the final two individuals interviewed, a young woman remarked, "I can't say anything about it. It was simply incredible." Meanwhile, a man offered a striking statement: "I believe that all right-wing extremists should have to watch this movie on a mandatory basis."

"I was living abroad in Germany when this movie came out and saw it in the theater in Germany in 1993. I’ve never seen so many quiet people exit and walk through the lobby to their cars," commented @zimnizzle under the YouTube video. "Bear in mind this is 48 years after the end of the war so nearly all attending adults had someone with first hand experience of the war, and many were young or even young adults, possibly even former soldiers. This movie still hits hard today in our detached society. Imagine on people who lived part of it," wrote @Galf506.  The video was also shared on Reddit by u/foreign_arrival_8993. The post received an overwhelming response on the platform with several people sharing their views in the comment section. "Crazy to think that some of the people who watched that not only lived through Hitler's Reich, but might've even been soldiers in the conflict. I understand their pain, imagine watching that and realising that your parents or grandparents could have been the ones in the concentration camp, on either side of the wire," wrote u/Spiderdogpig_YT. 

"I watched this film just two to three weeks back. I couldn't stop crying, this film was devastating on every level," commented u/raceraot. u/snoo-9711 added, "The first guy had the most authentic reaction to a German seeing that." For those unfamiliar, Spielberg's "Schindler's List" is based on the book "Schindler's Ark," and tells the story of a German industrialist who saved over a thousand Jewish refugees from the Holocaust by employing them in his factories during World War II, according to IMDb.