Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage
Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage
Podcast Description
Blending performing arts and history, LUOTD delves into what it means to represent the Holocaust onstage. Co-hosting from London and New York, theatre historian Samantha Mitschke and actor Alexandra Gellner discuss all things Holocaust-theatre. Bringing their perspectives as Holocaust educators, the pair look at how theatre can help with teaching and learning about the Holocaust as they offer fresh and thought-provoking insights.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast delves into diverse themes focusing on Holocaust education, theatre adaptations, and the historical context of performances, with episodes addressing crucial topics such as the cultural life in the Terezin ghetto, the representation of antisemitism in plays like 'Our Class', and adaptations of significant works such as 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas'. Discussions also consider the impact of these themes on current educational practices and societal perceptions.
Blending performing arts and history, LUOTD delves into what it means to represent the Holocaust onstage.
Co-hosting from London and New York, theatre historian Samantha Mitschke and actor Alexandra Gellner discuss all things Holocaust-theatre. Bringing their perspectives as Holocaust educators, the pair look at how theatre can help with teaching and learning about the Holocaust as they offer fresh and thought-provoking insights.
In this week’s episode, Sam and Alex look at Arthur Miller’s adaptation of Fania Fénelon’s memoir of her time in the women’s orchestra of Auschwitz.
The pair talk about the history of the orchestras at Auschwitz, including the relative ‘privilege’ of the musicians; the life and experiences of Fénelon, a French singer and pianist; the moral challenges facing the orchestra members; the representation of women’s experiences; and the complex, overarching theme of perpetrators as ‘humans’ rather than ‘monsters.’
To skip updates and recommendations and go straight into the episode, listen from 15.15.
Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner
Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke
Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner
Music: “Image” by Infraction Music
Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/
Episode Sources
Tim Auld, “How Arthur Miller struck a discord with the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz” in The Guardian, 6 March 2015.
Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, On Auschwitz (25): Orchestras at Auschwitz.
BBC Media Centre, The Last Musician of Auschwitz.
Fania Fénelon (1977) The Musicians of Auschwitz. Michael Joseph Ltd.
Kathryn Hughes, “The Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz by Anne Sebba review – playing for their lives” in The Guardian, 21 March 2025.
Arthur Miller (1990) Playing for Time. Nick Hern Books.
Music and the Holocaust / ORT.org: Fania Fénelon / Anita Lasker-Wallfish / Alma Rosé
Time Note, Maria Mandel.
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