The archives are the very soul of the Jewish People.
From Ethiopian Jews walking across the desert to the Holy Land, to Jewish children playing in Cracow streets before being murdered during the Holocaust, and the announcement of the creation of the State of Israel – all this is preserved in historic footage of Jewish historical events in the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.
The archive will screen a sampling of its documentary footage, some of which is rare, during the next two months on Israel’s Channel 2 Television in a series called “Sixty, Seventy, Eighty.”
The series, which will begin its screenings on Wednesday, will show segments chosen from among the many categories of films in the archive, founded in the late 1960s.
The archive was founded to offer as a legacy to future generations of the Jewish People a look at the Jewish People’s past. “The archives stores the best record that we have of the Jewish People,” according to a narrator, who added, “The archives are the very soul of the Jewish People.”
Among the footage that will be shown are excerpts from the Eichmann trial in Jerusalem, the ceremony establishing the Hebrew University in 1925, scenes showing the establishment of the State of Israel, the War of Independence and the early years of statehood.
In addition, a film showing Jewish life just before its destruction in pre-World War II Poland, and a rare “home movie” showing Adolf Hitler and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini meeting on the eastern front in World War I will be broadcast.
The Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive was founded in the late 1960s by Professor Moshe Davis and other historians of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The Archive originally bore the name of its first donor, Iranian businessman Abraham F. Rad, who gave his support for a number of years. In 1987, a generous donation was received from Steven Spielberg, and the Archive was re-named after the American filmmaker, whose continuing interest in the film archives’ activities is a source of pride to Hebrew University.
The archives are used by a wide spectrum of users, including film producers and directors, researchers, educators, students, schools, cultural centers and others interested in the history of the Jewish people and the land of Israel.