  We compute the effective action and correlators of the Polyakov loop operator
in the Schwinger model at finite temperature and discuss the realization of the
discrete symmetries that occur there. We show that, due to nonlocal effects of
massless fermions in two spacetime dimensions, the discrete symmetry which
governs the screening of charges is spontaneously broken even in an effective
one-dimensional model, when the volume is infinite. In this limit, the thermal
state of the Schwinger model screens an arbitrary external charge; consequently
the model is in the deconfined phase, with the charge of the deconfined
fermions completely screened. In a finite volume we show that the Schwinger
model is always confining.
