Steven Spielberg explains the ending of his classic film Schindler’s List

The final scene in Scindler’s List is not a debatable one. All those who have seen the classic film would know that it ends with a grab of holocaust survivors visiting the grave of Oskar Schindler, the main protagonist of the movie. Breaking it down for anyone who wanted to know why the filmmaker kept that credit scene, Steven Spielberg explained there’s a logical reasoning behind it. Spielberg wanted the audiences to know that the film is based on real-life facts and thus kept that scene. 

“Holocaust denial was on the rise again — that was the entire reason I made the movie in 1993. That ending was a way to verify that everything in the movie was true,” Steven Spielberg said. He continued to say that before Schindler’s List came out, he had never attempted a film that “so directly confronted a message” that he wanted the world to hear. 

“It had a vital message that is more important today than it even was in 1993 because antisemitism is so much worse today than it was when I made the film,” Spielberg added.

Schindler’s List is Steven Spielberg’s most critically-acclaimed films. The film won seven Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. It was the first time he won a Best Director Oscar. The film also won Oscars for composer John Williams, screenwriter Steven Zaillian, and director of photography Janusz Kaminiski, as well as art directors Allan Starski and Ewa Braun, editor Michael Kahn and producers Spielberg, Gerald R. Molen and Branko Lustig.

Schindler’s List is set in Jewish Holocaust era and takes a look at the life of German industrialist Oskar Schindler who was instrumental in saving the lives of more than 1000 Jews. The movie released on December 15, 1993 and starred Ben Kingsley and Ralph Fiennes in pivotal roles.