'I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history–to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish,' Spielberg said at an event celebrating the 30th anniversary of his USC Shoah Foundation

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," said Oscar-winning director Steven Spielberg during a speech he gave Monday evening, invoking Prime Minister Winston Churchill's famous speech to the British Parliament in 1948.

Speaking at an event celebrating the 30th anniversary of his USC Shoah Foundation, Spielberg went on to say, "I am increasingly alarmed that we may be condemned to repeat history – to once again have to fight for the very right to be Jewish."

At the event, the renowned Jewish filmmaker was awarded the prestigious University Medallion by the University of Southern California in recognition of his work at the Shoah Foundation, an organization Spielberg founded in 1994.

In the three decades since its inception, the foundation has collected the testimony of 56,000 Holocaust survivors, which are preserved in its Visual History Archive.

In later years, the Shoah Foundation expanded its collection to include testimony from survivors and witnesses of other genocides, including in Rwanda, Armenia, Cambodia, and Guatemala, as well as a collection of contemporary antisemitism.

In his acceptance speech, the Schindler's List director told the packed crowd, which included 30 Holocaust survivors, that as a boy he learned to count, not in school but by being taught the numbers tattooed on the arms of the survivors who would visit his boyhood home.

"One man rolled up his sleeve and showed me what the number five looks like, what the number three looks like," Spielberg said. "He showed me a seven. And then he said, 'Want to see a trick? This is a nine. But when I go like this, now it's a six. It's a nine you see, Steve? And it's a six.' I was only three, but I have never forgotten that."

Spielberg said in listening to the accounts of survivors, "the echoes of history are unmistakable in our current climate."

"The rise in extremist views has created a dangerous environment and radical intolerance (that) leads to a society that no longer celebrates differences, but instead conspires to demonize those who are different to the point of creating the other."

In December of last year, two months after Hamas' brutal attacks on the communities of Israel's southern border, Spielberg announced that the Shoah Foundation would be collecting testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the October 7 attack.

According to the Foundation's website, the project "ensures that the voices of survivors will act as a powerful tool to counter the dangerous rise of antisemitism and hate."

Spielberg's speech on Monday night also referenced the events of October 7 as well as the ongoing war in Gaza. "We can rage against the heinous acts committed by the terrorist of October 7," he said.

"And also decry the killing of innocent women and children in Gaza. This makes us a unique force for good in the world and is why we are here today to celebrate the work of the Shoah Foundation, which is more crucial now than it even was in 1994."

Spielberg went on to say, "It is crucial in the wake of the horrific October 7 massacre. It is crucial to the stopping of political violence caused by misinformation, conspiracy theories and ignorance. It is crucial because stopping the rise of antisemitism and hate of any kind is critical to the health of our Democratic republic and the future of democracy all over the civilized world."

Spielberg's speech also touched on the sharp rise of antisemitism on America's college campuses, warning of what he called "the machinery of extremism." "50% of students say they have experienced some discrimination because they are Jewish," he said.

"This is also happening alongside anti-Muslim, Arab and Sikh discrimination. The creation of the other and that dehumanization of any group based on their differences are the foundations of fascism. It's an old playbook that has been dusted off and widely distributed today."

Spielberg's comments provide a sharp contrast in tone to those made recently by his good friend and collaborator Tony Kushner.

Speaking recently on Haaretz' weekly podcast, the Tony award winner downplayed reports of an epidemic of Jew hatred on U.S. campuses, saying that being "passionately involved in calls for a cease-fire" does not equate with antisemitism.

"There's been a concerted attempt by right wing American Jews to sort of sell the idea that American college campuses are awash with virulent antisemites - professors and students and so on," Kushner said on the podcast. "And the Jewish students are walking these campuses in terror for their lives."

"I think this is nonsense. I see no evidence of it," he went on to say.

Kushner and Spielberg have worked together for nearly two decades, collaborating on such notable films as Munich, Lincoln, West Side Story and The Fabelmans.

While Kushner has previously said he has a lot in common with Spielberg "politically," the two men have taken noticeably different stances since October 7.

As seen in Monday's speech, Spielberg has leaned towards a more pro-Israel stance while still condemning the loss of innocent life in Gaza.

Kushner, on the other hand, who has long been a vocal critic of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, has lambasted Israel's role in the war, saying on the podcast that it "looks a lot like ethnic cleaning to me."

Still, Kushner has a deep respect for Spielberg, whom he sat down to watch Munich with last year, nearly twenty years after they worked on it together, Kushner as the screenplay writer, Spielberg as the director.

"When you see somebody shot and killed, Steven includes some little moment right before their death, often a very powerful moment that makes you cringe and wince when they're killed," Kushner said.

"It's that refusal of dehumanization that I think is the most profound gesture in 'Munich.' And that's why I think Steven is a great artist - because I think he's not able to dehumanize."

Whether their two decades-long friendship will weather the storm of today's current geopolitical climate remains to be seen. But in an interview for the Forward last year, Kushner said of Spielberg, "I am just very happy we met. I think he's a genius. I feel unbelievably fortunate to work with him. After four films, it seems we have some kind of chemistry. It feels like this is bashert."