A Message from Arnold Mittelman After a career in not-for-profit and commercial theater spanning more than 40 years I was honored in 2007 to found the National Jewish Theater / Foundation and in 2010 to assume leadership of its Holocaust Theater International...
Axis
Author(s): James Kriz
When Nazi Minister of Propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, offers exiled half-Jewish fencing champion and celebrity, Helene Mayer, a place on Germany’s 1936 Olympic team in exchange for her services as a radio broadcaster for the regime, she returns to the Fatherland with high hopes. However, as the shadow of anti-Semitism grows, Helene realizes that Goebbels is using her to help solidify Nazi power, and to ensure that the Olympic Games will not be boycotted by the world. She’s forced to choose between her people and the Jewish man she loves, or the fame, immunity and wealth Goebbels has given her.
Format: Full-length play, drama
Cast Size:2M/2F
Character breakdown:
Joseph Goebbels, 39, Reich Minister of Propaganda
Helene Mayer, 23, Olympic Gold Medalist, German celebrity, half-Jewish by the Nuremberg Law definitions, since her deceased father was Jewish.
Greta Mayer, Helene’s Mother, 50, gentile
Aaron Falkenburg, 28, stage actor, Jewish, Helene’s former boyfriend
Notes:
Based on the true story of Helene Mayer, Axis is the untold Holocaust tragedy of a woman transformed by grief and the allure of fame, seduced by Goebbels into becoming the betrayer of her own people, a key link in the chain of events leading up to the Final Solution.
Snapshot
Original Source Material: The story of Helen Mayer and the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games
Nationality of Author: U.S.
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:
James Kriz
Experience(s) Chronicled: Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism | Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators | Women and the Holocaust | European Jewry Before the Holocaust
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
Lifetime Achievement Award
On September 30, 2024, French playwright, Mr. Jean Claude Grumberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented by NJTF HTII President, Arnold Mittelman with Dominique Trimbur, PhD-Manager for the History of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Teaching of the Holocaust of Fondation Pour La Memoir de la Shoah Project.
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