Two terified children get closer to their mother, but Joseph Mainjel does not show any mercy. “They live here. You go there,” hey sings, pointing to different sides of the train track. A soldier with a rifle who takes children away from his mother.
These are memories of a Holocost Survivor and are being worked on stage at Bucharest National Opera in Romanian capital.
The scene, which focuses on Mejel, a doctor of the infamous camp in Aushwitz, is part of the Opera “Ichman Trial”, which is the world’s first opera about Holocost, intentionally killing European Jews by Nazi Germany.
This opera is one of the most famous tests since World War II, the test of Adolf Ichman, which was sent to Israel for his complexity in the killing of six million Jews in Israel in 1961.
Bringing memories of people left in life
The test first brought the boundary of this massacre and the horror to the public attention.
“Ichman’s Trial” is part of an education project operated by the Romanian loud-rut foundation and is based on an idea of Towva Ben Nun-Chainbis.
The music was composed by Israeli composer and composer Gill Shohat. Librato is based on a play by Israeli playwright and screenwriter Motti Learner.
But the opera gets beyond the trial: Witnesses in the court on stage brought the memories of those who survived the death camp – the families who were separated, the women who were tortured, the children who were shot and killed were shot dead.
Opera about Holocost?
Is it okay to stage an opera about Holocost? What should be discovered? Thesis was such questions that Irwin Simsensohan asked Himel if he first received a call, he asked if he would consider directing Opera.
“It seemed … weird … a piece about Holocost, set for music?” He told DW, a few days after the inauguration of Opera at the Jewish Community Center in Bukharest.
Simsan is a famous person in the Jewish community of Romania and managed the Jewish Community Center a few years ago.
However, he says, his reservation ended after his first conversation with Daniel Jinga, Director General of Bucharest National Opera. When he heard the music that the bee was specially made for opera, any last remaining doubt was swept away.
“Music does not necessarily mean entertainment. It is not necessarily staged for an important subject in this way,” he says.
A personal priority
The 45 -year -old director is certainly used for challenges. Simson divided his time between Bucharests, where his wife and children live, and Constant on the Black Sea Coast, where the state is the Director General of the Theater.
In summer, he organizes a nine -week culture ceremony in the city. So he does voluntary work for Jewish organizations. It does not leave much time for projects that are close to their heart, such as opera about Holocaust, which they say, is personally important.
The reason for this is that although Romania played a special role in Holocaust, it appears that for a long time, no one in his native country wanted to hear it.
Romania and Holocost
Under the dictator ion Antonscu, Romania was one of the closest colleagues of Nazi Germany during World War II.
The Romanian rule rapidly banned the freedom of Jews in the country and increased violence against them. The Jewish citizens were dispersed and humiliated, deported into the Jewish settlement and labor camps in Transnistria, and tortured and killed in bloody pogromes.
What did Irwin Simsenso’s grandfather deport a labor camp. Thanks, he survived, but Holocost left an indelible impression on the family’s DNA. “It personally affects me,” says Simsensiohan.
While Simsenson could not forget, his native countries were repressed for a long time, played below and in some cases also denied their own participation.
It was only in 2004 that Romania first accepted its historical complexity in Holocost. Subsequently, a report prepared by an International Commission revealed that about 280,000 of 380,000 Jewish people in Romania and died by Roman forces in regions controlled by it.
Promote the culture of remembrance
After the publication of the report, Romania took his first cautious step towards the culture of remembrance.
October 9, the day the Jews began in 1941 for the camps in Transnistria, which declared the national day to remember Holocaust. Plans were prepared for a Holocaust Museum (but not, as so far, implemented), National Institute for Study of National Holocost (INSHR) What was established in Bucharest, and a Holocost monument was built.
“For most people, it’s not about remembering Holocaust, but is about to hear about it for the first time,” Simsenson says. Just two years ago, the theme of Holocaust and the history of Jews was introduced into the school curriculum.
A recent study by Insar shows that only a third of the Romanians know that their country was entangled in the destruction of Jewish people in Europe.
The dictator and war criminal ion Antonsku, who plays an important role in killing the Jews of Romania, is lakes of lakes as “great patriots” by most Romanians today.
Humble for theater
Simensohan North -stlers grew up in Piytra Namest in Romania. His parents are engineers, but – like his son – loves the theater.
At high school, he founded a theater group, which quickly succeeded. For his final project during his training to become a director, Simsensohan chose a theater optimization of the book Birth of convictWhat was about the children of Nazi families.
The whey presented the project in his class, a fellow student asked him if he was not yet fed up with the subject of Holocost.
“He said,” it is as if some people in your family died and you keep the corpse on the table in the living room, show it anytime that comes in and refuses to bury it. ”
Although Simsensohan is a calm person, what was felt on the occasion appears when he remembers the story. He breathes fast before continuing: “I told him: ‘I will put these people on the table in the living room.” “To emphasize his words, he brings down his hand fast on the table.
“If we bury the thesis people, we forget who killed them. We are talking about men, women, children. They were not just. These people were killed because they were everyone.
Emergence of rights
To date, Simsohan says, he considers it his responsibility – and other artists, also – to talk about the theme of Holocost.
“This is important, not only what happened to educate people, but to warn them about the dangers of right -wing extremism.
In 2024, in Romania’s Parliamentary elections, far-flung parties received one third of all votes. The strongest among the top is an alliance for Romanians (AUR). Aur’s presidential candidate, George Simian, made it in the runoff of the presidential election, but Niksor came second behind Dan.
Some, Simsenson says, has gone wrong. “Today, Anti -Semitism is stronger than a few years. The danger is increasing for us.”
The purpose of “Eichmann’s Trial” was a one -time performance. But after much positive response, this will be done again in October.
This is a success for both the entire team behind Simsohan and Opera, because, as Simsensiohan knows, the fight against forgetting is probably more important than ever.
This article was the original published in German.
