Oskar Schindler them; there was no choice." In 1951, Poldek Pfefferberg approached director Fritz Lang and asked him to consider making a film about Schindler. Also on Pfefferberg's initiative, in 1964 Schindler received a $20,000 advance from MGM for a proposed film treatment titled "To the Last Hour". Neither film was ever made, and Schindler quickly spent the money he received from MGM. He was also approached in the 1960s by MCA of Germany and Walt Disney Productions in Vienna, but again nothing came of these projects. In 1980, Australian author Thomas Keneally by chance visited Pfefferberg's luggage store in Beverly Hills
Oskar Schindler while en route home from a film festival in Europe. Pfefferberg took the opportunity to tell Keneally the story of Oskar Schindler. He gave him copies of some materials he had on file, and Keneally soon decided to make a fictionalised treatment of the story. After extensive research and interviews with surviving "Schindlerjuden", his 1982 historical novel "Schindler's Ark" (published in the United States as "Schindler's List") was the result. The novel was adapted as the 1993 movie "Schindler's List" by Steven Spielberg. After acquiring the rights in 1983, Spielberg felt he was not ready emotionally or professionally to tackle