Child star Sophie Nelisse has urged Hollywood's studio bosses to keep making films about the Holocaust, because she is part of a generation who aren't taught about the horrors of the second world war.
The 13 year old admits she knew nothing about the Nazi atrocities before she started researching her role in The Book Thief, in which her character befriends a Jewish man hiding from German troops, and she thinks youngsters should be aware of what happened.
Speaking at a recent screening of the film in Los Angeles, Nelisse said, "We don't learn about the Holocaust in my school, so when I did the movie I had to do a lot of research.
"Kids my age - our generation - don't know enough about what happened. Some people think it's annoying that we keep on making these (Holocaust) movies, but I don't think so because all of the (concentration) camp survivors are gonna die at some point... and I just hope that in 100 years, people remember what happened, first of all to not let it happen again and sort of for a way to remember the people that died and to remember the people that fought for them (sic). I just think it's really important that we keep on making these movies."
Her thoughts were echoed by her co-star Emily Watson, who recently told WENN, "We filmed in Berlin, which is a city that is very, very honest and it wears it's history on it's sleeve, and it's very brutal with itself what has happened there. It was pretty relentless because you're filming all day and then you'd go off on a sightseeing tour and everywhere you go there is an exhibit about what happened. It's gutting.
"But it's fascinating to me that Sophie has friends who don't know about the Holocaust. You sit in a room with seasoned hacks (journalists) and they've all seen Schindler's List and The Pianist and The Reader and they ask, 'Do we need another Holocaust movie?'
"Yeah, we b**ody well do. (Co-star) Geoffrey (Rush) was talking about a survey that was carried out in the United States, where teenagers were asked, 'Was Adolf Hitler a dictator or was he a football coach?' Most of them thought he was a football coach! So it's a story you have to keep telling."
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