Coming to See Aunt Sophie

Author(s):

The play is the true story of Jan Karski, a humble Polish-Catholic courier for the Underground during World War II who risked his life many times to get the word out about what the Nazis were doing to the Polish Jews. With the secret code phrase, “Coming to see Aunt Sophie,” he worked his way through Nazi-occupied Europe, finally ending up in the United States and giving his report in July 1943 to FDR himself. It is a remarkable story about a man who was a hero to everyone but himself and whose experiences of trying to alert the world and failing to prevent the Holocaust haunted him the rest of his life.
Format: Two-act, full-length play
Cast Size: 4–6

Snapshot

Original or Prominent Production: May 2014, world premiere in Germany at the Here and Now Festival in Mannheim. Performances in three cities in Poland to celebrate the centenary of Karski’s birth, including a performance at the Museum for the History of Polish Jews on the grounds of the old Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. In the U.S. the professional theatre company Crossroads Repertory Theatre produced nine performances in Indiana in July 2014 and two at the Chopin Theatre in downtown Chicago in September 2014. Performances at the Fig Tree Theater, Sydney, Australia, summer 2015.
Original Source Material: The true story of Jan Karski (1914–2000), a Polish World War II resistance movement fighter and later a revered professor at Georgetown University.
Nationality of Author:
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:

Contact Tonda Marton of the Marton Agency, Manhattan. For contact information visit the play’s website.

Experience(s) Chronicled: | | | | | |

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