The Role of the Jewish Theatre in Poland in Commemoration of the Holocaust Victims

The experiences of WWII, including mass and planned extermination of the Jewish communities caused the significant change in general meaning of the Jewish theatre in Poland.

The main aim of this paper is to discuss the role of the Jewish theatre in Poland as the institution commemorating the Holocaust victims. The analysis will focus on the selected theatrical productions and their contribution to the development of the contemporary Shoah discourse.

Summary

The revival of Jewish theatre after 1945 in Poland was accompanied with the feeling of the necessity of commemorating wartime atrocities, and in particular the Holocaust. This approach could be illustrated, among others, by “Mirele Efros”, the first production staged after the war, which referred to the tragedy of the WWII and, above of all, to its Jewish victims. Tragic fate of Mirele symbolized the situation of the Jewish nation which, like her, was subjected to a difficult test, paid with deaths of millions of people.

The mission of commemorating the Holocaust has been continued by the State Jewish Theatre in Warsaw, founded in 1950. The establishment of this institution was perceived as a forecast of the rebirth of Jewish art. Its repertoire was supposed to reflect “pain and longing” and “doubts and despair” of the Jewish nation and the past marked with “mass graves and crematoria.”

The aforementioned mission has been carried out by the Jewish Theatre until now. The vast majority of its productions, including the recent premiere of “Dybbuk”, refer to the Jewish war trauma.