The Ruins of Memory: Women’s Voices of the Holocaust
Adapted and Directed by Laura Ferri
Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre was pleased to present our first fully staged performance piece, “The Ruins of Memory: Women’s Voices of the Holocaust,” which ran from October to November 2022, focusing on women’s frequently ignored voices from that mass genocide.
Nazi Germany’s master plan to eradicate the Jewish people did not technically differentiate between genders. However, as professed by Holocaust educators, Carol Rittner and John Roth, “Any consistent Nazi plan had to target Jewish women specifically as they were the only ones who would finally be able to ensure the continuity of Jewish life.” The odds of a woman surviving the death camps were much lower than those of a man.
Yet aside from the diary of Anne Frank and the memoirs of Gisella Perl who was a Jewish doctor at Auschwitz, women’s voices are, for the most part, little known outside of academia. The most well-known survivors and writers of that time—Victor Frankl, Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel—whose works have been widely read and discussed, are all male. The Ruins of Memory provides a richer, multi-dimensional perspective by showcasing powerful stories that place the women—their suffering, experiences, heroism, and resilience—at the forefront.
The reflections of Jewish women are often more intimate, the lens more focused on the home, family tensions, small moments, or gestures that are the genesis for uniquely female forms of self-sacrifice, humiliation, and survival. In addition, our desire to include testimony from the Sephardic community will also fill a noticeable void in Holocaust awareness, which tends to focus solely on the Eastern European community, ignoring the devastating loss of entire Jewish communities in Greece, Rhodes, and other areas in the Mediterranean.
By all accounts, the play was profoundly moving, illuminating, and well-received.
Because Women’s Voices Need To Be Heard
Featuring the beautiful Ensemble of,
Kerry Jacinto, David S. Klein, Tadd Morgan, Olivia Ockey, Meg Emine Savlov
with Musicians,
Carl Shutoff, clarinet and Mark Hilliard Wilson, guitar & percussion
Seattle Times Preview
Photo Credit – Olivia Ockey
Real Change Review – November 23, 2022
Photo Credits – Joe Iano
"NEVER FORGET" FOR FEAR OF BECOMING FORGOTTEN The Cholent An Interview with Emily Alhadeff, Laura Ferri and Shellie Shulkin
Photo Credit – Olivia Ockey
Funding for Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre, was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, and supported in part by an award from 4Culture.
The Susie and Arthur Goldman Charitable Fund
And
The Powell Family Foundation the Nancy E. Powell Division
Performance Permissions
Selections from A Hug from Afar by Claire Barkey Flash ©2016 are performed through
arrangement with Cynthia Flash Hemphill. All rights reserved.
“Arrivals, Departures” from Auschwitz And After is performed through arrangement
with Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author Charlotte Delbo. All rights
reserved.
Excerpts from the oral history of Zenia Malecki granted by Sophie Dichter.
Based on the stories “A Scrap of Time,” “Behind the Hedge,” “Aryan Papers,”
and “The Key Game” by Ida Fink.
Excerpts from the oral histories of Zenia Malecki and Aida Brydbord from Mothers,
Sisters, Resisters, edited by Brana Gurewitsch (University of Alabama Press, 1998, ©Brana Gurewitsch). Used with permission of the University of Alabama Press.
Excerpts from the letters of Etty Hillesum from The Etty Hillesum Foundation.
Based on the book, We Were So Beloved: Autobiography of a German Jewish Community,
©1997 by Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer & Manfred Kirchheimer.
Excerpts from the oral history of Isabella Leitner granted by Dr. Peter Leitner and
Richard Leitner.
Excerpts from the oral history of Laura Varon granted by University of Washington
Libraries, Special Collections, OHC0119.
Tales of the Alchemysts Theatre 