By Eric George Tauber
SAN DIEGO–Every time we hear a story from a survivor’s own lips, we are faced with the reality that the generation of survivors is passing into history. This is why the National Jewish Theater Foundation (NJTF) has created Remembrance Readings compiling over 600 plays into their Holocaust Theater Catalog. By staging dramatic readings in theaters, museums, cultural centers and embassies, writers and actors are breathing new life into the stories of survivors. One such reading was Jesse Eisenberg’s The Revisionist at the Old Globe.
David has come to Poland to visit his cousin Maria. More accurately, David has come to revise his book far away from the myriad distractions of Manhattan. Maria just happens to have a small apartment with a spare room. But his distant cousin is a force to be reckoned with.
David doesn’t feel very close to his family, preferring the company of friends as “blood is not so important.” To Maria, family is precious. Everyone in her life has either died or emigrated. All she has are pictures, so these mean everything to her. She even keeps a review of David’s first book in a frame. It was a lousy review, but it was in the New York Times.
David thinks he’s a sophisticated New Yorker and comes across as a bit arrogant. He’s a privileged “Amerikanski” with a lot of growing up to do. So when they match wits, she’s got him outgunned.
Maria was four years old when the Nazis invaded, forcing them to leave their home to be relocated to the ghetto. When her ten year old brother sneezed on a Nazi officer’s jacket, he was shot in the face and left in the street. She survived by hiding in the home of her Catholic baby sitter and, for four years, dared not venture outside. Harboring a Jew could have gotten the whole family killed. Her tale is riveting and made all the more tragic by her present loneliness and isolation.
God bless the NJTF for creating this fitting tribute to the survivors, for keeping their stories alive. Actors can bring them to life in a way that no one else can. Just as Megilah Readings and Seders enrich our Jewish souls, may these Remembrance Readings become integrated into our tradition so that future generations will say, “I survived the Holocaust.”
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Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. You may comment to eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com, or comment on this website provided that the rules below are observed.