Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List” is back in theaters to mark the 25th anniversary of its release. And the director said it couldn’t come at a more appropriate time, saying that “there is more at stake today than even back then."
Now, as the film comes to theaters again, the world is at a critical crossroads similar to what the generation in the film faced: Globally, authoritarian governments are in ascendance — with fascist parties gaining traction in many European nations. Further, a stark rise in violence targeting Jewish communities has reflected rising antisemitism as not seen since the Second World War.
USC Shoah Foundation to join United Nations Commemoration of Genocide Laws in Live Streamed Event.
USC Shoah Foundation Executive Director Stephen Smith will participate in a panel discussion Friday at a special event at the United Nations marking the 70th anniversary of the adoption of international laws to prevent genocide and punish its perpetrators.
Nearly 10,000 students see ‘Schindler’s List’ in free educational screenings
Steven Spielberg, founder of USC Shoah Foundation and director and co-producer of the film, says there has never been a more important time for students to see the historical period drama. “Hate is less parenthetical today, and it’s more a headline," he told Lester Holt of NBC Nightly News in an interview about the rerelease.
"When collective hate organizes and gets industrialized, then genocide follows," said Spielberg. "We have to take it more seriously today than I think we have had to take it in a generation," he said during a time of heightened identity politics and the massacre of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in which the suspected shooter left a trail of anti-Semitic posts online.