Schindler's List goofs

In the 1940s, the vast majority of European women did not shave their underarms, legs or pubic regions, particularly women in labour or death camps, who were not even permitted basic hygiene. In the film, all except one of the women appear to be trimmed and groomed.

The bottle of Hennessy cognac seen in the film is the newer design introduced in the 1990s. The original bottle was taller and bore a different label.

When a train carrying Jewish men was taken to Czechoslovakia, you can see masts for an electrified railway; at that time and in that area, the locomotives were all steam‑powered.

The Billie Holiday song heard on the radio is not the wartime recording listed in the closing credits; it is a later recording from the 1950s.

When Rudolph Höss meets Schindler, Höss says that I.G. Farben needs labour for "his chemical factory", as though the name referred to a specific person. In reality, I.G. Farben was the name of an industrial conglomerate, not the name of any single individual.

Schindler is travelling in a 1946 Daimler Landaulet.

A 1950 Mercedes-Benz 170 Va appears in the evacuation sequences.

The cabaret tune that opens the film, 'Der fröhliche Wanderer' (also known as 'Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann' and referred to in English as 'The Happy Wanderer'), was written in 1955.

When the Nazis are sorting the healthy from the ill prisoners, two shellac discs are played. The second disc bears the label "Fogg Records", yet Mieczyslaw Fogg only established his record company after the war; furthermore, Fogg's studio largely (if not exclusively) recorded Polish performers, and the tune does not sound like a Polish song.

The song "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" was not composed until two decades after the Second World War (see trivia).

When they labelled the box with the 'war material' label, the text was clearly printed by a printer — a device that had not yet been invented at that time.

The concrete mixer shown in the labour camp was manufactured by the company Lescha in the late 1950s and is a Lescha 100 model.

At the start, as the Germans set up the tables to record the names, a German clerk sets down a plastic ink pad. Ink pads of that era were contained in metal cases.

At the start of the film, a radio with a circular dial is visible. It is, in fact, the Polish post-war Orion RSZ48 model, produced in 1948.

When the evicted family are shown moving into their new ghetto flat, a woman already there is rocking a baby in her arms. Crying can be heard, yet the baby itself remains calm.

Oskar Schindler tells a guard that only a child can polish a 45 mm shell from the inside. However, the German army did not use 45 mm calibre guns at all (apart from a small number of captured Soviet tanks, for which the Germans did not, in any case, manufacture ammunition).

In the German version only, when Schindler and Goeth dispute over what should happen to Helen Hirsch, Goeth mispronounces the name Auschwitz as "Aus-schwitz". This mistake is sometimes heard in German-speaking circles, where people can confuse the name Auschwitz (the German form of the Polish town name Oswiecim) with "Ausschwitz" — derived from "ausschwitzen", which actually means 'to exude'.

When Goeth attempts to execute the rabbi, he draws a semi-automatic pistol from his pocket. When it fails to fire, he manually cycles the slide to chamber a round. The very first time he does so a cartridge is expelled from the firearm, but on each subsequent pull of the slide no cartridge is ejected, indicating that the magazine was empty.

After the little boy removes the saddle from the car and, after Schindler says thank you, he hands over some cigarettes to a Schutz-Staffel member at the camp, and Schindler calls him "Rottenführer". However, the SS man's insignia actually corresponds to the rank Sturmmann, which is one rank lower than Rottenführer.

During the clearance of the Krakow ghetto, an SS soldier scolds another soldier for having shot the boy he was dragging back to the assembly point. That soldier repeatedly mispronounces the verb "schiessen" (to shoot), using an "i" sound instead of the correct "e", so that it comes out like "scheissen" (to defecate).

When called up as one of the Schindlerjuden, Mordecai Wulkan gives his name as Markus.

In contrast to Liam Neeson, Oskar Schindler had blond hair.

When Goeth tries to shoot the rabbi, his first pistol refuses to fire. He then pulls a second semi-automatic from his pocket, but after that weapon also fails to fire several times, Goeth strikes the rabbi and walks away, leaving a revolver on the ground — not the semi-automatic he had taken from his pocket.

The doctor who poisons his patient as an act of mercy is first shown smeared in blood, frantically trying to obtain the poison from a chemist. Moments later he appears in an identical, spotless coat as he dispenses the poison. Shortly afterwards he is carrying an injured woman who is then shot by an SS officer, the woman bleeding onto the doctor.

In the munitions factory, Schindler comes up behind the rabbi who is operating a grinding machine and asks him a question. The rabbi does not hear it because of the machine's noise, so Schindler raises his voice slightly. The rabbi then switches the machine off and answers the original question — which he had not heard and which Schindler did not repeat.

When the boy initially paints the letters "DIREKTOR", a serif typeface is used; in a subsequent shot the word is rendered in a heavier, sans-serif, almost stencil-like style and is displayed considerably larger than before.

As Schindler moves in to kiss the Jewish girl, he places his hands on her shoulders. In the subsequent shot he withdraws them from her cheeks.

At the end of the film, when the real survivors and their on-screen counterparts pay their respects at Schindler's grave, each person places a small stone on the flagstone in accordance with Jewish custom. The small stones on the flagstone change shape, colour and position several times, as the camera repeatedly cuts to the moments when the stones are placed.

When Schindler is reprimanded by the SS officer for kissing the Jewish girl, the officer lifts his cup twice during a single sentence.

When the men have a young boy fetch ice from the roof of the train as they're travelling to Schindler's factory, the barbed wire on the window forms a zigzag pattern, yet an exterior shot shows it as a linear pattern.

Near the end of the film, when a Russian soldier frees Schindler's Jews who are sleeping outside the factory, as he rides towards them on horseback there are several gaps visible on the ground between those who are asleep. The camera then shifts to a viewpoint behind the soldier and suddenly many more people are seen lying on the ground with no gaps whatsoever between them.

The posture of Amon Goeth's arms while he speaks to Helen in the cellar just before he strikes her.

In the film's final sequence, at the end of the war, several of the women appear to have hair that is too long to have regrown in the seven months since their imprisonment at Auschwitz.

In the opening sequence of the film, as Schindler readies himself for the party (putting on his clothes and collecting money), the shape of his hands (and his nails) varies from shot to shot.

The scene in which Schindler interviews for a secretary post begins with a wide shot of the room’s furniture covered with sheets as the walls are being painted. When it cuts to a close-up, the furniture has disappeared.

When Oskar first meets Amon over lunch, an officer pours water on two occasions, shown from two different angles.

When Schindler accepts Stern's shot on his behalf during their toast to mark the founding of the enamel firm, he puts the small glass back down in front of him. By the time Stern rises and walks out, the glass has gone.

When Schindler is seated with the SS officers on the station platform, a side-on shot reveals a leaking fire hydrant and one of the officers passes him a drink. In the subsequent close-up, Schindler asks Amon if he can get the fire hoses out to spray the carriages, and he is handed the very same drink again.

While the Schindler women are being loaded back onto the trains bound for his factory, one shot shows Helen Hirsch and Rosalia Nussbaum already aboard. In the very next cut, as an SS officer is separating children from their mothers, both Helen and Rosalia are inexplicably back in the lines.

While Oskar is lying in bed with his wife and they are talking, his head is resting against hers. However, in the subsequent shot, when she sits up or rolls over to speak to him, he is noticeably further away from her.

Stern's arm is draped round a one-armed labourer in Schindler's warehouse.

Oskar takes a seat at Amon's table for lunch, the camera positioned behind Amon. When the shot switches, he is already chewing his food.

When Amon is choosing his housekeeper, all the women appear cold and frightened; if you look to the end of the row, the last two women can be seen repeatedly glancing down the line and laughing.

When the boy is seized by Nazi troops, he drops his case at his feet. When the camera cuts back to him, the bag is a metre away.

When Amon shoots a prisoner at random after no one admits to stealing the chicken, the man's body collapses straight down to the ground. In the next shot, he is shown lying flat on his stomach as an officer shoots him in the head.

When Schindler and Poldek Pfefferberg meet at the church, Poldek reaches into his jacket pocket with his right hand to pull out a notepad and pencil so he can note down Schindler's order for black-market goods. The camera then cuts to a view from behind Poldek, where he is seen taking a sheet of paper from the front of the pew with his right hand.

While the elderly women are assembled for inspection at Auschwitz, Mrs Dresner changes her place in the queue between two shots as she speaks.

In the opening sequence at the railway station, it is apparent that there is no metal hatch where the man is setting up the table; yet, as they begin to call the names, the action appears to be taking place in a different location.

(At 1:11:00) When the little girl in the red coat — the film’s sole colourised element — hurries to hide beneath the bed, her coat appears vividly red as she runs across the room; yet when the camera cuts to a close-up as she scoots backwards, the coat is shown uncolourised in black-and-white.

When Schindler and Stern negotiate with the Jewish investors outside the ghetto, Steven Spielberg is reflected in the rear window, his jacket billowing in the breeze.

In the cellar scene between Oskar and the maid, when she stares directly at the camera there is initially no light coming from the right; but as the scene continues and the shot tightens, someone switches on a light that becomes visible when the camera cuts to a view from her left and her head tilts forward.

On the first occasion that Amon Goeth fires at a Jewish prisoner, a sizeable dirt squib is plainly visible in the background before it goes off.

When the train conveying the women departs Kraków–Płaszów and is inadvertently diverted to Auschwitz, approximately 25 miles west of Kraków, it is depicted passing a mountain range. In fact, there are no mountains between Kraków and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Oskar Schindler was never presented with the Golden Nazi Party badge, so he could not have sold one to raise funds to save more Jewish people. In any case, apart from a handful, the badges were made of gold-plated brass.

At the film's conclusion it is stated that Oskar Schindler was declared righteous in 1958. In reality, he was not recognised as Righteous Among the Nations until 1993, the same year the film was released and nineteen years after his death.

Among the insignia Amon Goeth displays on his SS uniform are the Iron Cross, 2nd Class, the Sudetenland Medal and the Silesian Eagle. None of these honours were actually bestowed upon Goeth; in the case of the Silesian Eagle he would have been only 11 years old when that badge was awarded.

Armbands bearing the Star of David were required to be worn by Jewish people on the left arm rather than the right.

As the gassing narrative is recounted in the women's barracks, one woman is observed running her hands through her hair. A ring is visible on her forefinger, even though all jewellery had been confiscated.

The Golden Party Badge (Goldenes Parteiabzeichen) that Schindler is holding is the 'large' military variant rather than the civilian issue he would have possessed had he been awarded one.

The list was typed prior to Rebecca and Josef Bau's marriage. She appears on it under her maiden name, Tenenbaum.

In the film, Amon Goeth is portrayed as a Schutz-Staffel major. A recent examination of Goeth's service records, however, has revealed that the highest SS rank he actually attained was that of captain.

Amon Goeth was hanged with his hands fastened at the front. Typically, hangings are performed with the hands bound behind the back.

At Schindler's factory in Czechoslovakia, during a brief Sabbath service, Rabbi Levartov, while lighting the candles, recites the incorrect blessing. Instead of saying "l'hadlik ner shel Shabbat" (the blessing for the Sabbath candles), he utters "bo'rei p'ri hagafen" (the blessing for wine).

Soon after the opening party, when Schindler is first seen, the camera cuts to a column of German soldiers marching along the street. One of them has an MG42 machine gun slung over his shoulder. That weapon was not introduced until 1942, yet the scene is set before the deadline for Jews to move into the ghetto, which, according to the film, was in March 1941.

Schindler encounters Rolf Czurda in 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland. In reality, Czurda was not posted there until 1943. The novel repeats this inaccuracy.

When Schindler takes his meal, he holds his fork in his right hand and his knife in his left. As he is not left-handed, that would seem rather unusual for a German. In fact, Germans and many other Europeans typically cut their meat with their dominant hand and do not flip their cutlery; instead the meat is eaten straight off the knife, so Schindler's manner of eating in that scene is, technically, in keeping with local custom.

When they separate the healthy from the sick, one of the men running unclothed is clearly uncircumcised. However, many Jewish prisoners were not Torah‑observant and had, in fact, become assimilated into non‑Jewish society; therefore they may not have been circumcised.

When the train carrying the women departs Krakow-Plaszow and is accidentally diverted to Auschwitz (about 25 miles west of Krakow), the film shows it passing a range of mountains. In reality, there are no mountains between Krakow and Auschwitz-Birkenau. Historically, transports to Auschwitz and the other death camps didn't always travel directly and were frequently sent along more circuitous routes, so this particular convoy might conceivably have passed mountainous terrain (the Tatra Mountains lie roughly 160 kilometres from Krakow). Such detours could also add considerable time to the journeys; trips that ought to have taken hours could stretch to days.

Just after the young boy is lifted to reach and dislodge another icicle from the train's roof, the camera cuts to an exterior shot and pulls back to reveal the train passing by, with no sign of snow or ice anywhere else on it except directly above that single doorway.

When Schindler is dressing to go to the nightclub at the start of the film, he pours a clear liquid from a Hennessy VSOP Cognac bottle into his glass. Hennessy VSOP Cognac is a dark amber colour and wouldn't be clear under any circumstances.

At the railway station, when Schindler rescues Stern from being sent away, an officer can be seen leafing through pages of names, but every page is identical.

When the doctor opens his hidden cache of fine spirits, a beam of light can be seen inside. How could that be, since it must be concealed within a wall?

After the factory scene in which the workers are taught how to make soup pots, Stern leads a group to the front of the queue to collect their work permits, but he is not wearing his armband displaying the Star of David.

When Goeth holds the list up to Schindler to point out a clerical error at the foot of the final page—referring to the blank reserved for Helen Hirsch—the page shows that the blank is marked 297. Since the list actually comprised between 1,100 and 1,200 people, the final number on the last page ought to fall within that range.