[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 27 (Wednesday, March 5, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E380]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  CONGRESSWOMAN DEBBIE STABENOW COMMENDS STEVEN SPEILBERG, FORD MOTOR 
              CO., AND NBC FOR AIRING ``SCHINDLER'S LIST''

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                          HON. DEBBIE STABENOW

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 1997

  Ms. STABENOW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in response to Congressman 
Tom Coburn's assertion that the airing of the Academy-award winning 
film ``Schindler's List'' was an all-time low for network television.
  Twenty-five years ago, I walked through the Dachau concentration camp 
and was overwhelmed with emotion. I could not understand how something 
like the Holocaust could have happened. I could not understand the 
hate. I could not understand the loss of lives. The visit had a 
tremendous effect on me. Watching ``Schindler's List'' on Sunday 
evening, I had the same deep sense of how something so unspeakably 
horrible could have happened.
  I speak out not only as the Representative of the Eighth District of 
Michigan, who believes we all need to fight against hatred and social 
injustice, but also as a mother who has seen the great effects the 
movie ``Schindler's List'' can have on our children. My daughter, a 
junior at Sexton High School in Lansing, recently watched ``Schindler's 
List'' in her world history class. I was extremely impressed with how 
her teacher used the movie to document examples of the Holocaust, so 
the students could see, first-hand, the gruesome reality of what 
occurred. My daughter came home from school after seeing this movie and 
said, ``Mom, how could this have happened?''
  These are the questions we need to ask if we are going to learn from 
the past. We need to make sure that the Holocaust is never forgotten. 
As a parent, I appreciated my community and my daughter's teacher for 
showing ``Schindler's List''. ``Schindler's List'' opened the eyes and 
minds of my daughter and her classmates to the harsh realities of the 
past.
  We all, young and old, can learn from ``Schindler's List.'' I am 
proud that Steven Speilberg, the Ford Motor Co., and NBC had the 
courage to show the truth. I commend them for instilling an important 
message: ``To be educated, to learn from the past, and to strive to 
make sure that a Holocaust never happens again.''

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