Embodying History: Preserving Memories of Holocaust Survivors Through Performance

Abstract

Manya Frydman Perel (born in 1924) survived eight concentration camps and dedicated almost fifty years of her life to educating thousands of students on the horrors of Nazi crimes against humanity. Her death on July 29, 2020, inspired the foundation of “The Manya Project” that pays homage to survivors by keeping their personal narratives about the Holocaust visually and aurally alive through theatrical performance. This study offers strategies for creating scripts and performing Holocaust testimony using the Brechtian idea of Verfremdungseffekt and Gestus to respect and honor the lives of Holocaust survivors Manya Frydman Perel, Itka Frajman Zygmuntowicz (1926–2020) and Rosalie Lebovic Simon whom the author has had the privilege to meet and experience their individual testimonies.

Keywords

• holocaust
• witnessing
• embodiment
• trauma
• survivor
• verfremdungseffekt
• gestus