When survivor Mila Pfefferberg was introduced to Ralph Fiennes on the set, she began shaking uncontrollably, as he reminded her too much of the real Amon Göth.
Steven Spielberg initially intended to make the film in Polish and German with English subtitles, but rethought the idea because he felt he wouldn't be able to accurately assess performances in unfamiliar languages.
At his insistence (citing that it would be "blood money"), all royalties and residuals from this movie that would normally have gone to Steven Spielberg instead are given to the Shoah Foundation, which records and preserves written and videotaped testimonies from survivors of genocide worldwide, including the Holocaust.
To gather costumes for 20,000 extras, the costume designer took out advertisements seeking clothes. As economic conditions were poor in Poland, many people were eager to sell clothing they still owned from the 1930s and 1940s.
Steven Spielberg was able to get permission to film inside Auschwitz, but chose not to, out of respect for the victims, so the scenes of the death camp were filmed outside the gates on a set constructed in a mirror image of the real location on the other side.
Branko Lustig: Nightclub maître d'hotel in Oskar Schindler's first scene. Lustig is one of this movie's producers and a Holocaust survivor (upon receiving his Oscar, he recited his serial number, A3317).
Steven Spielberg: A liberated Schindler Jew among the hundreds crossing a field near the end of the film.