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Leon LeysonA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
As Leon enters the new Emalia factory, he feels heartened by the more hospitable surroundings. He and Chanah reunite with Moshe and David. They discover that Pesza is still alive, but they do not know the whereabouts of Hershel or Tsalig.
Leon and David work the night shift at machines that manufacture war material, including casings for bombs. Leon gets to know Schindler when he makes the rounds of the workspace and strikes up friendly conversations with the employees. Schindler is implied to take special pride in the work of Leon and his family. After a period of time, Leon is promoted to a more advanced section of the factory, and his food rations are increased; Schindler also leaves Moshe small gifts, which Moshe can trade for food.
As the Soviet army advances, the Germans realize they are losing the war and decide to close down Schindler’s factory. As the Jewish employees are lined up and are about to be sent back to Płaszów, Leon speaks up and begs Schindler to take them back to work at the new Emalia factory, which he plans to rebuild in Czechoslovakia. Schindler sees to it that Chanah also gets to work at the new factory.
With the factory dismantled, Leon and the other Jews are sent back to Płaszów to wait for Schindler and then proceed to the new factory. Leon briefly returns to his previous hellish existence at Płaszów, but on October 15, 1944, he and his family board a cattle car and head westward.
This chapter provides momentary relief from the horrors of the previous chapter, for the atmosphere at Schindler’s factory is a complete contrast to that of Płaszów. Even in the heart of the Nazis’ dominion, Schindler managed to make Emalia a friendly place, and Leyson’s descriptions make it clear that Schindler understood The Importance of Kindness in Dark Times. The factory owner conscientiously cared for his workers and treated them with dignity and respect. Although the food rations were still very spartan, the workers were able to survive, and they were treated as employees rather than as an imprisoned labor force. Although he remained officially aligned with the Nazi Party and had to work slyly within these limitations, Schindler nonetheless took action for the betterment of his staff, presiding benevolently over his employees and developing a special rapport with Leon and his father. He also provided comfort to Leon’s father and mother by securing her release to work at the new factory when it was ready.
Schindler’s subterfuge can be seen in Emalia’s sinister exterior, which, as Leyson asserts, was just a “façade to placate the Nazis” (134). Inside, the atmosphere was humane and welcoming, and Emalia therefore became a sanctuary: a safe haven amid a cruel and dangerous world. The Emalia building stands as a metaphor for Schindler himself, who was outwardly a Nazi but secretly worked to undermine Nazi plans and save people’s lives.
To drive home the stark difference between Emalia and the Nazi-dominated world beyond, Leyson conveys the superior atmosphere of Emalia through various sensory images, such as Schindler’s cigarettes and cologne, as well as the music and laughter overheard at Schindler’s parties upstairs. In addition to providing a sense of Schindler’s kindness and relative affluence, these details also depict his jovial, pleasure-loving personality and elegant lifestyle. At the same time, the figure of Schindler retains a certain mystery for Leon, who as a boy remained somewhat wary of the man. Leon knew that—all kindnesses aside—Schindler was still a Nazi, and Leon was not sure whether to trust him.
His wariness is contrasted to Moshe’s trust, and Leon’s father continued to believe in Schindler; his hope sustained his family through the final stage of the war. At the end of the chapter, during Leon’s transportation in the cattle car out of Płaszów to Schindler’s new factory, he recalls “bits of light coming through the ceiling and walls” (151), and this image serves as a symbol of hope for his future.