Theatrical Performance of Eastern European Holocaust Figures: Wiener, Korczak, Sylvanus

Abstract

This paper addresses three important, but lesser known, figures of the Holocaust through performance. They will be analyzed in their theatrical representations through the eyes of a theatre director. Through my direction of two productions of the play Dr. Korczak and the Children written by former Nazi turned apologist Erwin Sylvanus and performed by non-Jewish college students at Georgetown University and Georgia College, the unique lens of this post-World War II German play, about Jewish Polish hero Dr. Korczak and the children of his orphanage who were ordered to their deaths in a gas chamber, will be analyzed. My new play The Flights of Jan Wiener uncovers Czech Holocaust hero Jan Wiener in performances by Georgia College students in the Czech Republic. Through directorial dramaturgy, the theatrical performances regarding these three Eastern European Holocaust figures will be addressed in the unique ways they contribute to Holocaust theatricalization.