Steven Spielberg holding two Oscars that he won for
Schindler's List for best director and best
picture.
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I am doing service, for the first time, to my Jewishness.... [Growing
up] I kept wanting to have Christmas lights on the front of our house
so it didn't look like the Black Hole of Calcutta in an all-Gentile
neighborhood. I would beg my father, "Dad, please let us have
some lights," and he'd say, "No, we're Jewish," and
I'd say, "What about taking that white porch light out and
screwing in a red porch light?" and he'd say, "No!"
and I'd say, "What about a yellow porch light?" and he
said, "No!"
When we moved to Phoenix, I was one of only five Jewish kids in
elementary and high school. There was a lot of anti-Semitism against
me and my sisters. In study hall kids used to pitch pennies at me,
which would hit my desk and make a large clatter. It was called
"Pitching pennies at the Jew " and it was very hurtful.
People coughed the word "Jew " in their hand as they
passed me in the hallway. I got smacked and kicked to the ground
during physical education, in the locker room.... I was an outsider,
and as a result I wasn't proud of my Jewish heritage--I was ashamed.
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What effect did the making of Schindler's
List have on Spielberg?
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I was so ashamed of being a Jew, and now I'm filled with pride. I
don't even know when that transition happened.
I felt so helpless [after my first visit to Auschwitz] that there
was nothing I could do about it. And yet, I thought, well there
is something I can do about it. I can make Schindler's
List. I mean, I'm not going to bring anybody back alive, but
it maybe will remind others that another Holocaust is a sad
possibility.
I was frightened every day [of the filming].... I go to Poland
and I get hit in the face with my personal life. My upbringing.
My Jewishness. The stories my grandparents told me about the Shoah.
And Jewish life came pouring back into my heart. I cried all the
time. I never cry on sets making films.... I recreated these
events, and then I experienced them as any witness or victim would
have. It wasn't like a movie.
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