Spielberg Presents Doc About Nazi Massacre of Jews In Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine (October 19, 2006) — Steven Spielberg presented a documentary about the Nazi massacre of tens of thousands of Jews at the Babi Yar ravine in Ukraine, several weeks after Ukraine marked the 65th anniversary of the tragedy.

The film by Ukrainian director Serhiy Bukovsky, “Spell Your Name,” for which Spielberg co-executive produced, contains the testimony of Jewish survivors who escaped brutal execution and those who rescued friends and neighbors during the Holocaust.

“The stories and experience of survivors in Ukraine need to be seen and heard by the people of the world, who may not know what happened in Ukraine during the Holocaust,” Spielberg said at a news conference Wednesday.

The massacre began in late September 1941 when Nazi forces occupying Kiev marched Jews to the brink of the steep Babi Yar ravine and shot them. More than 33,700 Ukrainian Jews were killed over 48 hours. In the ensuing months, the number of people killed at Babi Yar grew to more than 100,000, and included Roma, or Gypsies, as well as other Kiev residents and Red Army prisoners.

“I really believe that listening to the stories of Holocaust survivors from all around the world is going to change the world and already has in many ways,” Spielberg said.

The film was produced by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, a Los Angeles-based organization founded by Spielberg in 1994.

The director has produced several documentaries on the Holocaust, including 1996’s “Survivors of the Holocaust,” 1998’s “The Last Days,” 2000’s “Eyes of the Holocaust” and 2004’s “Voices from the List.” His “Schindler’s List” won seven Academy Awards in 1994.