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Steven Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation Expands Mission As It Marks

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  • Steven Spielberg's USC Shoah Foundation Expands Mission As It Marks

    STEVEN SPIELBERG'S USC SHOAH FOUNDATION EXPANDS MISSION AS IT MARKS 20 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

    Lawyer Herald
    March 24 2014

    Filmmaker Steven Spielberg delivered a keynote speech at the United
    National General Assembly, which centered on the theme 'Journeys
    Through the Holocaust" on January 27th.

    The ceremony also featured a speech by Rena Finder, a Holocaust
    survivor who had been part of Schindler's list. Spielberg's address
    coincided with the 20th anniversary of the USC Shoah Foundation,
    which he founded in 1994. The Shoah Foundation has already filmed and
    collected 51,413 accounts from Holocaust survivors in 34 languages
    and 58 countries.

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    Six million Jews were systematically murdered by the Nazis during
    the Holocaust.

    Spielberg announced it has expanded its mission to include interviews
    with survivors from other genocides. They include testimonies from
    survivors in Armenia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Srebrenica, Bosnia and
    Nanking, China.

    "Movies at least have taught me that I don't have to be realistic
    about anything," Spielberg told the Associated Press last week.

    Spielberg was inspired to create the foundation after meeting with
    Holocaust survivors during the shooting of "Schindler's List," his
    1993 Oscar-winning film, which highlights one German businessman/war
    profiteer who went through extraordinary lengths to rescue 1,300 Jews
    during the Holocaust.

    The film's enormous worldwide success helped propel the launching of
    the Shoah Foundation.

    Spielberg has also written the introduction to a forthcoming book
    "Testimony: The Legacy of Schindler's List and the USC Shoah
    Foundation," which will be released next week.

    "I'm basically like a doctor on call. I have everything but a beeper
    on my belt. When they need me, I'm there," Spielberg told The AP,
    in describing his deep connection to the Shoah Foundation.

    "My initial awareness of what had happened to the Jews of Europe
    under Fascism came from my grandmother and grandfather telling me
    horrifying accounts of fates of my relatives and their friends,"
    Spielberg told the UN General Assembly in January.

    "Directing 'Schindler's List,' interviewing survivors - this was my way
    of trying to understand the Holocaust. Breaking down the phenomenon
    of overwhelming horror into individual moments was the only way I
    knew how to approach and better understand it. Those whose who lived
    it know what we will never know. Survivors and witnesses often say
    that their dearest hope; the hope that held to keep them alive was
    to be heard, and to be believed, and to be understood," he added.

    The director's words have poignant meaning, particularly since
    Holocaust denial still remains prevalent. Just last week, Iran's
    Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used a Friday morning speech
    to call into question the Holocaust, The Jerusalem Post reported.

    "The Holocaust is an event whose reality is uncertain, and if it has
    happened, it's uncertain how it has happened. Does anybody dare talk
    about the Holocaust in Europe?" Khamenei said.

    "Ayatollah Khamenei's words are unmistakable: He denies the Holocaust
    happened. Iran needs to renounce Holocaust denial, extremism,
    and bigotry if the world is to have any faith in its conduct and
    intentions," responded Ronald Lauder, the president of the World
    Jewish Congress.

    The foundation announced that the Institute will honor President Barack
    Obama with the Ambassador for Humanity Award on May 7 in Los Angeles.

    "President Obama's commitment to democracy and human rights has long
    been felt," Spielberg said.

    http://www.lawyerherald.com/articles/5086/20140325/steven-spielbergs-usc-shoah-foundation-expands-mission-marks-20-year.htm



    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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