After following months of grueling preparation under the guidance of History teacher Cary Reichardt and Theater teacher Rebecca Lopkin, the Holocaust Studies Class performed a Broadway-esque masterpiece in front of the TABC community. On Thursday, April 12, 2019, fourteen seniors took the stage in a production entitled Bare Witness.
The students reenacted first-person stories from actual Holocaust survivors. Those stories ranged from escaping Nazi persecution to liberating a concentration camp.
Not only were the stories fascinating, but they were also heard first-hand by the survivors themselves! The survivors sat in the front row and focused on the stage for every second of the performance.
I spoke to survivor Rene Slotkin about the importance of his story. He responded, “The more exposure my story gets, the more happy I am because I feel I have a responsibility that all survivors have to let everyone know what really happened.”
This production clearly required a tremendous effort took in order to finally come together. The class completed it in three discrete steps, one per quarter.
Mrs. Reichardt first came up with the idea for a play when she discovered Project Witness. According to its mission statement, Project Witness is an organization that offers “groundbreaking resources for Holocaust education while remaining deeply committed to its unique mission of exploring the spiritual, ethical, and intellectual responses of Holocaust survivors and victims.”
Unfortunately, Project Witness was not able to sponsor the production. Mrs. Reichardt was still determined to bring this project to life, though she knew it would require something unique. She informed the students about her idea and they accepted the challenge, having no idea what a journey it was going to be.
Mrs. Reichard commented on her students’ courage: “They didn't know they would be making a play or that this project would become what it was, but by the end they got much more than they ever signed up for.”
Their first step was to get in touch with survivors they wanted to interview.
Senior Avi Baer had a previous connection to survivor Rene Slotkin: “My parents knew Rene from a long time ago; he went to their wedding.” Baer knew immediately that he wanted to play Slotkin when the production came.
Others who weren’t fortunate enough to have a connection with a potential interviewee contacted museums in order to get leads.
After extensive interviews, these student journalists were able to take their project to the second step. In December, they compiled all their information into comprehensive descriptions of six different stories. This was a long process that lasted until February, but Baer assured me the hard work was totally worth it.
After the interviews were all compiled, the students were separated into six groups and each group had to turn the stories into scripts.
Mrs. Reichardt and Mrs. Lopkin edited their work and used their experience in their respective fields to perfect the dialogue. Mrs. Reichardt determined that each and every sentence was historically accurate, while Mrs. Lopkin made sure the script stuck to the framework of good storytelling.
According to Mrs. Lopkin, the process took a lot of “class brainstorming.” The class as whole considered what kind of words to use, how each person should be dressed, and where the scenes should take place. Students described this stage as long and sometimes annoying, but agreed it was a necessary step toward achieving their goal.
Only after the scripts were written could the students move to the final step: acting. This stage of the process proved to be difficult but enjoyable.
After many hours of rehearsal, the performance began to gell. Students memorized and practiced their lines extensively until they felt ready to perform. Mrs. Reichardt was pleased with the results: “Neither Mrs. Lopkin nor myself thought that these guys would act so well. It was a pleasant surprise.”
Bring the production to live took more than excellent actors. Yoni Seagal painted multiple large canvases that added background to scenes.
One such scene was an icy mountain range beset by an almost fatally cold blizzard; this helped dramatize the story of the survivor who trekked through it. When the painting combined with the sound effects, this scene feel so real that it actually gave me the chills.
Pianist Senior Seth Maza played background music throughout the play to heighten the drama. Some of the music he composed himself.
The play was a rousing success. All who attended were moved by its power.
Rabbi Yosef Adler gleamed with pride towards the Holocaust Studies class of 2019. He said that “these students are doing their job in Zachor Amalek.” He was amazed to see how zealous the seniors were to perfect their craft.
This was no small endeavor. It took an organized system and a lot of work to perfect their play. This took commitment!
Dr. Elliot Prager praised the students’ efforts: “We are a people of memory and this is a recent memory; it’s only 75 years ago. We have to keep this alive.”
Prager expressed admiration for all who took part, but he specifically enjoyed the acting of Jacob Blumenthal who performed the role of survivor Paul Galan. Prager enjoyed the “twist and turns” that Galan’s story took; he judged the entire experience to be “very powerful”.
Avi Baer recognized the tremendous responsibility he had as an actor: “I really took it upon myself to make sure their stories live on and to honor my relatives and the 6 Million who didn’t survive.”
After the play, the audience asked questions of the survivors and the student performers. Prager felt strongly that this personal connection with the survivors, along with the impressive acting, brought the story into reality.
Prager expressed a concluding wish for all of the students who participated: “My hope is that this experience stays for rest of their live and they will carry on the mantle of Judaism.”
As the demise of the generation of survivors approaches, it becomes all the more important to have these stories told to the current generation. We are fortunate that we can speak to a living part of history and feel, face-to-face, the emotions many try so hard to convey.
The Holocaust Studies took advantage of their situation and learned a lot from it. Because of them, many people walked away from the production with a greater appreciation for the innumerable ways the Holocaust changed people's lives.