Since the October 7 Hamas massacre in southern Israel, Jewish American director Steven Spielberg has received much criticism over his apparent silence. But on Friday, Spielberg spoke out against the horrors of Black Saturday and announced that he is planning to produce a documentary project of testimonies from that day.
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Spielberg confirmed the terrorist attacks left him shaken in a press release from his USC Shoah Foundation announcing the project. The Shoah Foundation specializes in the Countering Antisemitism Through Testimony Collection (CATT) initiative, which works with tens of thousands testimonies. "“I never imagined I would see such unspeakable barbarity against Jews in my lifetime," he said.
Spielberg said that CATT's October 7 testimonies will be "an effort to ensure that the voices of survivors will act as a powerful tool to counter the dangerous rise of antisemitism and hate.”
"Holocaust survivors are the most courageous and brave among us, and their accounts are a lasting testament to the resilience of the human spirit," said Spielberg. “Both initiatives – recording interviews with survivors of the October 7 attacks and the ongoing collection of Holocaust testimony — seek to fulfill our promise to survivors: that their stories would be recorded and shared in the effort to preserve history and to work toward a world without antisemitism or hate of any kind We must remain united and steadfast in these efforts," Spielberg said.