If you’ve ever sat through the three-hour emotional marathon that is Schindler’s List, you probably walked away thinking about Steven Spielberg. Or maybe Liam Neeson’s towering performance. But when you ask who wrote Schindler’s List, the answer is actually a weird, beautiful mix of a persistent Holocaust survivor, an Australian novelist who just wanted a new briefcase, and a screenwriter who had to figure out how to turn a 500-page book into a movie script.
It wasn't just one person sitting at a desk. It was a chain reaction.
The Man Behind the Author: Poldek Pfefferberg
Honestly, the book probably never would have existed if it weren't for a guy named Poldek Pfefferberg. Poldek was a "Schindler Jew" (one of the Schindlerjuden). After the war, he moved to Beverly Hills and opened a luggage shop. For decades, he told every writer who walked into his store about Oskar Schindler.
He was obsessed. He had files. He had testimonies. He just needed someone to write it.
Enter Thomas Keneally. In 1980, Keneally was an Australian author traveling through California. His briefcase was falling apart. He literally just walked into Poldek’s shop to buy a replacement.
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Imagine that. You go in for Italian leather and you walk out with the responsibility of telling one of the most important stories in human history. Poldek didn't just sell him a bag; he cornered him. He showed Keneally his files. He convinced him to travel to Poland. Because of that random encounter, Keneally wrote the historical novel Schindler’s Ark, which was published in 1982.
In the U.S., they changed the title to Schindler’s List.
The Screenwriter: Steven Zaillian’s Impossible Task
While Keneally wrote the source material, he didn't write the movie. That job went to Steven Zaillian.
It wasn't easy. Before Zaillian took the job, other big names were attached. Even Tom Stoppard had a crack at it. But the story was too big. How do you condense years of genocide and the complex morality of a Nazi-party-member-turned-savior into a screenplay?
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Zaillian spent months researching. He didn't just read the book; he went to Poland. He walked the grounds of Płaszów. He realized the movie couldn't just be a "biopic." It had to be a visceral experience.
"I owe this to my father who believed completely in the thing that destroyed Oskar Schindler as a businessman: common decency." — Steven Zaillian, accepting his Oscar in 1994.
He made some big choices. For instance, the character of Itzhak Stern (played by Ben Kingsley) is actually a "composite" character. In real life, several people helped Schindler run the factory and handle the lists, but Zaillian merged them into one person to give the movie a stronger emotional core.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Authorship
There is a common misconception that Steven Spielberg wrote the film. He didn't. Spielberg is a master director, and he shaped the vision—choosing to shoot in black and white, for example—but the words on the page came from Zaillian, based on the legwork done by Keneally.
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Another weird detail? Thomas Keneally’s book won the Booker Prize for Fiction, even though it’s almost entirely based on fact. This caused a huge stir at the time. People argued it should have been in the non-fiction category. Keneally called it a "documentary novel." He used the tools of a novelist (dialogue and pacing) to tell a story that was 100% true.
Why the "List" Itself is Contentious
In the movie, there's a dramatic scene where Schindler and Stern frantically type out the names. It’s the climax of the film.
But if you look at the historical research, Oskar Schindler didn't actually write the list himself. Historians like David Crowe have pointed out that there were actually nine different lists. Most of the heavy lifting was done by Marcel Goldberg, a Jewish orderly who was... well, let's just say he wasn't as saintly as the movie characters. He was known for taking bribes to put names on the list. Schindler was the one who provided the protection and the money to make the list matter, but he wasn't the one typing in the middle of the night.
Does that ruin the story? Not really. It just shows that history is messier than Hollywood.
Key Players in the Creation of the Narrative
- Poldek Pfefferberg (The Catalyst): The survivor who wouldn't let the story die.
- Thomas Keneally (The Novelist): The man who turned survivor testimonies into a Booker Prize-winning book.
- Steven Zaillian (The Screenwriter): The architect of the film's structure who won an Academy Award for his adaptation.
- Steven Spielberg (The Visionary): The director who insisted the film be made as a tribute rather than a blockbuster.
Actionable Insights: How to Explore the Real Story
If you’re fascinated by the history behind the writing, you should check out these specific resources:
- Read "Searching for Schindler" by Thomas Keneally. This is his memoir about how he met Poldek and the wild journey of writing the book. It’s often more entertaining than the novel itself.
- Visit the USC Shoah Foundation. Established by Spielberg after the movie, this is the largest archive of Holocaust survivor testimonies in the world.
- Look up the "Schindler's Ark" original manuscript. If you can find the early drafts, you can see how Keneally struggled with whether to make Schindler a hero or a villain.
The story of who wrote Schindler's List is a reminder that great art is rarely a solo act. It takes a village—or in this case, a luggage salesman, an Australian, and a guy from Fresno—to make sure the world doesn't forget.