|
'Focus on recent atrocities'
25/04/2007 14:34 - (SA)
Los Angeles - Director Steven Spielberg's Shoah Foundation is to expand beyond a focus on the Holocaust to document survivor memories from more recent atrocities, USA Today reported on Tuesday.
Until now, the foundation started by Spielberg has focused on recording the statements of Holocaust survivors and has collected more than 52 000 interviews.
The foundation will continue to record those oral histories, but will also turn its attention to recording eye-witness reports of genocide in Rwanda and Cambodia, as well as stories of life under apartheid in South Africa.
"The obligation to remember is a moral responsibility that all of us owe to all of those who have suffered violence and racism in the modern world, whether they are Jew or Armenians or Cambodians or Rwandans or Darfuris," said Douglas Greenberg, executive director of the Shoah Foundation Institute at the University of Southern California.
'Never forget'
Spielberg said the organisation was dedicated to applying the mantra "never forget" to more recent acts of genocide and oppression.
"Now we ask ourselves: How do we make this vision a priority in communities all across the world?" Spielberg said.
Spielberg created the foundation after finishing his Oscar-winning film Schindler's List nearly 14 years ago, saying he was overwhelmed by the personal stories he heard from Holocaust survivors after the movie came out.
- SAPA
|
South Africa
