Fight against Holocaust deniers: Spielberg explains cemetery scene in "Schindler's List"

Anti-Semitism is “so much worse today,” says Spielberg. His film about the life of the entrepreneur Oskar Schindler, who saved hundreds of Jews from the Holocaust, is therefore more topical than ever. Now the director explains the reason for the final scene at Schindler’s grave.

30 years after the success of director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the novel Schindler’s List, the filmmaker explains why the cemetery scene at the end of the film was so important to him. In the final scene, which was added very late, survivors of the Holocaust visit Oskar Schindler’s grave. In doing so, Spielberg wanted to show viewers that the film’s story was based on fact.

“Holocaust denial was on the rise again – that was the only reason I made the film in 1993,” he said in an interview with The Sunday Times, from which Deadline quoted. “The ending was a way of confirming that everything in the film is true.” Spielberg also stated that prior to Schindler’s List he had never made a film that “confronted so directly with a message” that he felt the world needed to hear. “It had an important message that’s even more important today than it was in 1993 because anti-Semitism is so much worse now than it was when I made the film,” he added.

With its powerful political message, “Schindler’s List” was one of Spielberg’s most critically acclaimed films. It has won seven Academy Awards, including best picture, and was his first award for best director. The film was also one of the highest-grossing black-and-white films at the domestic box office with $96 million, part of worldwide box office earnings of $321.3 million.

“Schindler’s List” tells the story of the German industrialist Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson), who saved the lives of more than 1,100 Jews during the Holocaust. The film, starring Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes, was released in theaters on December 15, 1993.

Steven Spielberg is currently on an awards and promotional tour for his latest film The Fabelmans. The film is nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Spielberg’s first nomination for Best Screenplay. Loosely based on Spielberg’s childhood, the Universal Amblin film co-written with Tony Kushner follows Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), a young man growing up in post-war Arizona who discovers a harrowing family secret and then explores how the power of movies can help him to see the truth.