‘FOCUS ON RECENT ATROCITIES’

News24, South Africa
April 26 2007

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.