Letter: Spielberg's dramatic epic of the Holocaust

Sir: Howard Jacobson's article on Steven Spielberg and Schindler's List ('Jacobson's list', 2 February) concludes that the film is not a masterpiece and that we have nothing to cheer about.

I beg to differ. Schindler's List succeeds in dramatising the Holocaust as never before. It is an epic which presents the genocide of European Jewry in a documentary style. It shows how one man was able to save some of the victims, that there was some goodness amid the greatest of evils.

The film gives the lie to the growing number of Holocaust deniers. It depicts the Holocaust in graphic fashion. Truly, nothing is spared and nothing is exempt - to use Howard Jacobson's own words.

The Holocaust is now to be studied in British schools as part of the national curriculum. It is a difficult subject to tackle, and the experience in this field of the Council of Christians and Jews will be useful in providing guidelines.

It is good that Schindler's List should be discussed by scholars and writers. It is not a matter of redemption but of understanding what happened, why it happened and to ensure it does not happen again.

Yours sincerely,

SIGMUND STERNBERG

Chairman and Executive

International Council of Christians and Jews

London, N3

2 February