Holocaust survivors press Steven Spielberg to publicly support hostages and Israel
Steven Spielberg poses with the awards for best director and best picture for The Fabelmans at the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles, Jan. 10, 2023. Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
By Stewart Ain November 2, 2023
The president of a foundation representing thousands of Holocaust survivors has written an open letter to Steve Spielberg, pressing the director of Schindler’s List to speak out in support of the hostages held by Hamas and Israel’s right to defend itself.
David Schaecter, who heads the Holocaust Survivors Foundation USA, wrote that he has admired Spielberg’s work — in film and through the USC Shoah Foundation — to document the Holocaust and tell the stories of its survivors.
“That is why I, along with countless other survivors, are so heartbroken that, since Oct. 7, 2023, you have not spoken out and publicly taken a stand against terrorism, against Hamas and the millions who celebrate the shedding of Jewish blood — and want more,” wrote Schaecter, who is 94.
“Wasn’t the purpose of recording 50,000 testimonies of our fellow survivors to make sure the world would never be able to deny, and must never forget, the Nazis’ systematic murder of 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children?” he continued. “On Oct. 7, Hamas committed the worst atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
The letter, which was joined by the Holocaust foundation’s board of directors, was sent to Spielberg a week ago. Schaecter said he was told by a representative of Spielberg’s that he had read it, but “we did not receive a response.”
Spielberg’s publicist, Marvin Levy, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Schaecter ended the letter: “We do not need another film in 3 years about the horrors of October 7th. Instead, we need you and others to speak out NOW, when it truly matters.”
Schaecter was 11 when the Nazis sent him to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp. He spent nearly three years there and visited his former cell block.
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