Flashback, the interruption of the present to describe events from an earlier time, is used to give us valuable information about Schindler. It establishes the time, place, and tone for the novel. By giving us the background of Schindler's life, we are able to understand why he's willing to risk everything to save Jews from extermination. We're also given the history of how Schindler's factory started and ended up saving over a thousand Jews. We are introduced to the Jewish people Schindler knew in his youth. By telling us his social history and connection to Jewish people, we're able to believe more readily his acts of mercy and kindness to Jews later in the book.

Foreshadowing is the use of hints or clues to suggest what will happen in the future. The horrors that will happen to the Jewish people is foreshadowed when the Nazis invade the Jewish community in Cracow. Later, Schindler says that "beyond this day, no thinking person could fail to see what would happen. I was now resolved to do everything in my power to defeat the system." Schindler's ability to interpret certain events and their possible consequences leads him to do things to prevent further murders of the Jews, such as going to the train station to save his workers who have been taken by the Nazis for internment in a concentration camp.