Steven Spielberg: Reflecting on ‘Schindler’s List’ 25 Years Later

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Steven Spielberg: Reflecting on ‘Schindler’s…

SCHILDER’S LIST 7

It may be hard to fathom that more than a quarter-century has passed since the powerful Holocaust film Schindler’s List made its debut in theaters around the world, but the movie was indeed released back in 1993. Schindler’s List was directed and co-produced by Steven Spielberg; the screenplay was written by Steven Zaillian. Widely considered to be one of the greatest films of all time, Schindler’s List garnered seven Academy Awards and three Golden Globes, among other prestigious accolades. It was a huge box office success — even more impressive since it was shot almost entirely in black and white.

Quote: “When I was very young, I remember my mother telling me about a friend of hers in Germany, a pianist who played a symphony that wasn’t permitted, and the Germans came up on stage and broke every finger on her hands. I grew up with stories of Nazis breaking the fingers of Jews.”

Source: Wikipedia, YouTube, BrainyQuote

Learn more about “Schindler’s List” on Wikipedia. >>

Watch an NBC Nightly News interview with Steven Spielberg on the 25th anniversary of “Schindler’s List” [22:46]. >>

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“[T]he foundations for extremism usually are held in check by various restraints. Societies are not liberal, moderate, progressive, and free because almost all their citizens – let alone their politicians — are liberal, moderate, progressive or committed to the freedoms of others.

“But societies consistently avoid extremism when the infrastructures of freedom are strong: when key institutions and norms encourage a more decent, rights-respective, lawful politics; when powerful social movements and independent media hold leaders to account, expose rather than reinforce political fantasies, and champion the rights of the vulnerable; and when information is produced and scrutinized by scholars, civil servants, and non-governmental organizations devoid of either government repression or vested interests.

“Yet no infrastructure is rigidly immovable, and once key components are eroded and weakened, once sections of the political and cultural elite attempt to mobilize the foundations of extremism, the system of restraints can swiftly collapse.

“While genocide on the scale of the Holocaust is historically exceptional, its central lesson is that the broader danger of extreme atrocities is not. In the words of the great historian Ian Kershaw, the Holocaust ‘lit a warning beacon that still burns brightly: it showed how a modern, advanced, cultured society can so rapidly sink into barbarity… It showed what we are capable of.’ Only by rejecting false narratives of conflict and polarization, and maintaining systems of rights and freedoms for all, can we hope to prevent that capability from once more becoming a reality.”

— Jonathan Leader Maynard in his incisive article “Could It Happen Here?: The Holocaust and Atrocities in the 21st Century” To read the entire article, click here.