Krakow, Poland • Film director Steven Spielberg told a group of Holocaust survivors Monday that Jews are again facing the "perennial demons of intolerance" from anti-Semites who are provoking hate crimes and trying to strip survivors of their identity.
His warning came in a speech to dozens of Auschwitz survivors the evening before official commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of the Soviet army's liberation of the death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.
About 300 survivors will gather with leaders from around the world Tuesday to remember the 1.1 million people killed at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the millions of others killed in the Holocaust. Leaders expected include the presidents of Germany and Austria, while the United States is sending a delegation led by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, who is an Orthodox Jew. Lew's family left Poland before World War II.
Spielberg, the Oscar-winning director of the 1993 Holocaust film "Schindler's List," was introduced by an 81-year-old survivor, Paula Lebovics, who praised him as "a man who has given us a voice in history."
In a short speech, Spielberg spoke of how his own Jewish identity evolved, first as a boy learning to read numbers from the numbers tattooed on the arms of survivors and as an adult when he filmed "Schindler's List" in Krakow. But he warned of "anti-Semites, radical extremists and religious fanatics" who are again provoking hate crimes — a warning that comes after radical Islamists massacred Jews at a kosher supermarket earlier this month in Paris.
Spielberg also noted that there are now Facebook pages that identify Jews and their geographic locations with the intention to attack them and a growing effort to banish Jews from Europe.
"These people ... want to all over again strip you of your past, of your story and of your identity," he told them. He stressed the importance of countering that hatred with education and preserving Auschwitz and other historical sites.
Rose Schindler, 85, who was one of 12 survivors from a family of more than 300 people, returned once 20 years ago but said she wanted a final visit to mourn her parents and four siblings who were killed in the Holocaust. She was separated from them upon arrival in Auschwitz with no time to say goodbye and survived because she was selected to do slave labor.
In this picture taken in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, tourist reads names of holocaust victims written on the walls of Pinkas synagogue. On Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 we celebrate 70th anniversary of liberation of concentration camp Auschwitz. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
In this picture taken in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, tourist reads names of holocaust victims written on the walls of Pinkas Synagogue. On Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 we celebrate 70th anniversary of liberation of concentration camp Auschwitz. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
In this picture taken in Prague, Czech Republic, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015, tourists read names of holocaust victims written on the walls of Pinkas synagogue. On Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015 we celebrate 70th anniversary of liberation of concentration camp Auschwitz. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Visitors pass by the detention building marked Block 6 at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
A visitor walks by barbed wire fences at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Visitors and media stand by the entrance gate of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Visitors walk between barbed wire fences at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. Sign in foreground is an electric fence warning.(AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
The "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets you Free) sign above the entrance gate of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, is backdropped by detention buildings, in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Mordechai Ronen a holocaust survivor from the US stands under the "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Sets you Free) writing above the entrance gate of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Alik Keplicz)
Marcel Tuchman, 93, a survivor of Auschwitz and still a practicing physician, visits the former death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2014. Tuchman was among dozens of survivors to visit the site a day before major ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the camps liberation by the Soviet Red Army.Together, several of them said kaddish, or the Jewish prayer for the dead, next to the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, hanging above the entrance to the camp. Many expressed shock at the recent killings of Jews at a kosher supermarket in Paris, saying they fear the world still has not learned the lessons of the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Mordechai Ronen a holocaust survivor from the US, center, gestures while praying with fellow survivors upon arriving at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. A decade ago, 1,500 Holocaust survivors traveled to Auschwitz to mark the 60th anniversary of the death camp's liberation. On Tuesday, for the 70th anniversary, organizers are expecting 300, the youngest in their 70s. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Rose Schindler, 85, right, a survivor of Auschwitz, and her husband Max, 85, visit the former death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2015. Schindler was among dozens of survivors to visit the site a day before major ceremonies marking the 70th anniversary of the camps liberation by the Soviet Red Army.Together, several of them said kaddish, or the Jewish prayer for the dead, next to the infamous "Arbeit Macht Frei" sign, hanging above the entrance to the camp. Many expressed shock at the recent killings of Jews at a kosher supermarket in Paris, saying they fear the world still has not learned the lessons of the Holocaust. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
FILE - A picture taken just after the liberation by the Soviet army in January, 1945, shows a group of children wearing concentration camp uniforms behind barbed wire fencing in the Auschwitz Nazi concentration camp. On Thursday Jan. 22, 2015, Russia accused Poland of engaging in a mockery of history after the Polish foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna credited Ukrainian soldiers, rather than the Soviet Red Army, with liberating Auschwitz 70-years ago. The latest exchange comes prior to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945, underlining deep tensions between Russia and Poland, which is hugely critical of Russia's recent actions in Ukraine. (AP Photo/FILE)
FILE- In this file photo dated January 1945, three Auschwitz prisoners, right, talk with Soviet soldiers after the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, in Poland, was liberated by the Russians. On Thursday Jan. 22, 2015, Russia accused Poland of engaging in a mockery of history after the Polish foreign minister Grzegorz Schetyna credited Ukrainian soldiers, rather than the Soviet Red Army, with liberating Auschwitz 70-years ago. The latest exchange comes prior to the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops on Jan. 27, 1945, underlining deep tensions between Russia and Poland, which is hugely critical of Russia's recent actions in Ukraine. (AP Photo/FILE)
US film director Steven Spielberg arrives for a meeting with Holocaust survivors in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, a day before commemorations at Auschwitz that mark the 70th anniversary of the death camp's liberation.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
US film director Steven Spielberg arrives for a meeting with Holocaust survivors in Krakow, Poland, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015, a day before commemorations at Auschwitz that mark the 70th anniversary of the death camp's liberation.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
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