ZAGREB, November 15, 2019 – Prime Minister Andrej Plenković on Thursday expressed condolences to the family of film producer Branko Lustig, who died on Wednesday at the age of 87, stressing that the artistic work of Croatia’s most successful film producer and associate of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was marked by the tragedy of the Jewish people and his suffering as a former inmate of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen as well as the suffering of his family.
“I was deeply saddened to learn about the passing of the great Branko Lustig, the most successful Croatian film producer, actor, prominent collaborator of the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, collaborator of the world’s biggest film directors, president of the film Festival of Tolerance, Croatia’s only two-time Academy Award winner, winner of the Golden Globe award and an honorary citizen of Zagreb.
“His entire artistic work was marked by the tragedy of the Jewish people, his suffering as a former inmate of Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen and the suffering of his family, killed in concentration camps.
“The life mission of Branko Lustig, as he said, was defined forever by the last words of his fellow sufferers – to tell the world how they lived and how they died. And he did it in the best possible way, with his impressive work on Schindler’s List, one of the greatest Holocaust films of all time for which he deservedly won his first Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe award,” Plenković said in his letter of condolence to the Lustig family.
He recalled that Lustig gave his Academy Award to the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Centre in Israel and initiated the establishment of a foundation dedicated to collecting recordings of interviews with Holocaust survivors.
“Branko Lustig tirelessly made movies and he also held lectures at Croatian and international universities and schools for decades, focusing on the education of young people. One of his messages that we must remember is that weapons of mass destruction are not bombs but hate among people, intolerance and blindness and if one forgets that, it would mean that evil has won.
“The truth is that Branko Lustig has won with his artistic and human mission,” Plenković said in the letter of condolence.
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović on Thursday extended her condolences to the family of film producer Branko Lustig, her special advisor on the Holocaust, who died on Wednesday at the age of 87, stressing that he had dedicated his life to spreading the truth about the past and teaching new generations that respect for the dignity of every person was the only right way to live.
Lustig was born to a Jewish family in Osijek in 1932. During WWII he was detained in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Most of his family were killed in concentration camps all over Europe.
“It was with deep sadness that I learned of the death of Mr Branko Lustig, a world-renowned film producer, two-time Academy Award winner, president of the Festival of Tolerance, a man who dedicated his life to the mission of spreading the truth about the past and teaching the new generations that respect for the dignity of every person is the only right way to live.”
Grabar-Kitarović recalled in her letter Schindler’s List, an Academy Award-winning film about the fate of the Jewish people during Nazism and individuals who had the courage to oppose it, which Lustig produced.
“It was his way of addressing the issue of those who during the Holocaust perished before his eyes, of protecting them from oblivion, a testimony and warning to all that hate is a tragedy of humanity,” Grabar-Kitarović said in her letter.
“He was a convinced humanist… as my special advisor on Holocaust issues, he was a valuable associate, notably in joint projects such as one to erect a monument to victims of the Holocaust, to be implemented in cooperation with the City of Zagreb,” the president said in the letter of condolence.
Croatian Culture Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek on Thursday expressed her condolences to the family of film producer Branko Lustig, stressing that his role in the Croatian society was great and that his death was a huge loss.
The prominent film producer and two-time Academy Award winner Branko Lustig died in Zagreb at the age of 87 on Wednesday.
Lustig was born to a Jewish family in Osijek in 1932. During WWII he was detained in Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. Most of his family were killed in concentration camps all over Europe.
Lustig was a great name in the Croatian and international cinematography, an Academy Award winner and much more than that, Obuljen Koržinek told reporters outside the government offices.
“He had an important role in society in recent years. He promoted the culture of remembrance, he launched the Jewish Film Festival and later the Festival of Tolerance, testifying with his life about the importance of never forgetting the horrible crimes that he survived, but he also sent a message of inclusiveness and tolerance, saying that he had forgiven but not forgotten.”
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