Schindler's Ark

Actor and award-winning narrator Humphrey Bower brings Schindler’s Ark to life in the audiobook.

Keneally’s novel was adapted into a film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1994, with Liam Neeson in the role of Oskar Schindler. 

It took more than a decade and multiple writers, including Keneally himself, to bring the book to the screen, and initially, Spielberg was reluctant to take on the project. At one point, Spielberg handed the project to Martin Scorsese to direct, but even when he took back the reins, there was still uncertainty from many. 

‘Survivors would come up to me in Poland and say, “What a strange choice,”’ Spielberg told Entertainment Weekly in a 1994 interview, ‘and I’d have a sinking feeling in my heart, (worrying that) the world wouldn’t accept Schindler’s List from me.’ 

In the end, the film was nominated for 12 Academy Awards and won seven, including best picture and the best director Oscar for Spielberg.

Watch Schindler’s List on Netflix here

Directing Schindler’s List inspired Spielberg to found the USC Shoah Foundation, which records the testimonies of witnesses and survivors of the Holocaust. It has since also expanded to include testimonies associated with the Rwandan genocide. 

Without the film, Spielberg said in an interview with NBC News, the foundation would not have existed.

‘The Shoah Foundation does its best to counter hate through basically reaching out and trying to teach people about empathy and respect and understanding through testimony,’ he continued.

Find out more about the USC Shoah Foundation

Winning the Booker Prize for Schindler’s Ark was ‘the greatest night of a lonely career’, said Thomas Keneally in his acceptance speech for the award.

His 1982 win did raise some questions about whether the book was fiction or not, but, said Keneally, he was ‘delighted that I don’t have to answer that question’. 

‘The judges are going to have to answer it tomorrow,’ he continued. I’m astounded that they had the courage to put themselves in such a position; I wish them well with the task.’

Keneally made a point to thank Poldek Pfefferberg, also known as Leopold Page, the Polish-American Holocaust survivor who told Keneally the story of Oskar Schindler and inspired him to write the novel.

‘Although I think that in all good conscience I think the book is a literary work and a novel, it is necessary to thank the people, the characters who are actually alive,’ said Keneally. ‘One of the characters is a luggage merchant from Los Angeles - Poldek Pfefferberg or Leopold Page - not only could I recommend his merchandise but he was the man who gave me the story.

‘And I’m the extraordinary position akin to that of a Hollywood producer when he humbly accepts his Oscar and thanks so many people. Normally a writer doesn’t have to thank so many people, but most of my characters are still alive and I’d also like to remember the extraordinary character whom Oskar was.’