Steven Spielberg On Rise Of Antisemitism: “Not Since Germany In The ‘30s…”
03.03.2023 - 20:27
/ deadline.com
Schindler’s List director Steven Spielberg, appearing on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert onThursday night, had some chilling words on the rise of public antisemitism in recent years. The director, whose most recent film is the Oscar nominated The Fabelmans, said that “not since Germany in the ‘30s have I witnessed antisemitism no longer lurking, but standing proud with hands on hips like Hitler and Mussolini, kind of daring us to defy it.”
The director, in what was billed as Spielberg’s first late-night interview, was asked by Colbert whether he is surprised by the recent, headline-making increase in incidents of antisemitism.
Said Spielberg, “I find it very, very surprising. Antisemitism has always been there, it’s either been just around the corner and slightly out of sight but always lurking, or it has been much more overt like in Germany in the ’30s. But not since Germany in the ‘30s have I witnessed antisemitism no longer lurking, but standing proud with hands on hips like Hitler and Mussolini, kind of daring us to defy it. I’ve never experienced this in my entire life, especially in this country.”
“Somehow, the marginalizing of people that aren’t part of some kind of a majority race is something that has been creeping up on us for years and years and years,” Spielberg continues. “Somehow in 2014, 2015, 2016 hate became a kind of membership to a club that has gotten more members than I ever thought was possible in America. And hate and antisemitism go hand in hand, you can’t separate one from the other.”
Asked by Colbert whether he had a countervailing message he’d like to share, Spielberg said that, “without painting a naive portrait of myself,” he’d turn to Anne Frank for such a message. “I think she was