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Leopold Pfefferberg eventually settled in Los Angeles, where he
opened a luggage and handbag shop. One day in 1980 an Australian
writer, Thomas Keneally, happened to stop in. Pfefferberg asked
him what he was doing in this part of the world. Keneally replied
that he was a writer on a book-signing tour. When Pfefferberg
heard that, he said, "You are a writer? I have a story for
you."
Keneally was intrigued. He spent several years doing research.
When Schindler's List was published, people were
astonished by the story. The book was a best-seller and
Keneally won several awards. In 1982, a proposal for a
screenplay was brought to Steven Spielberg.
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Why did Steven Spielberg hesitate to make Schindler's
List? What changed his mind?
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The Right Man for the Job
Spielberg had directed four of the ten top-grossing movies of
all time:
Jurassic Park (#1), E. T. (#2), Indiana Jones:
The Last Crusade (#5), and Jaws (#8). Though born
and raised as a Jew, Spielberg had little connection with, and
conflicting feelings about, his Jewish roots. Nevertheless, he
made a tentative commitment to the project. Other film projects
intervened, however, and Spielberg did not like the scripts he
saw. Finally, nearly a decade (and three screenwriters) later,
Spielberg was ready to make the movie.
It proved to be an unforgettable experience for him, for all
those involved in the film, and for millions of viewers. In the
next section Steven Spielberg relates how he came to his
personal act of remembrance.
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Eyewitness to History
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This account of Steven Spielberg's childhood and his decision to
make Schindler's List drawn from interviews in Time,
Newsweek, The New York Times, The Jerusalem
Report, Hadassah Magazine, and Premiere.
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[The film] is a remembrance for the survivors, for my mother's
generation, and the people who should learn more. . . . With the
ugliness reemerging in Eastern Europe and all over Europe. . . I
think it's a good time for this movie to be seen. These events
occurred only 50 years ago. And it could happen in all its
monstrosity again.
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