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...
Family Story [סיפור משפחתי]
Author(s): Edna Mazya
A Jewish family moves from Vienna to Heidelberg in Germany. Ruth, the mother, is having a love affair with Robert. Both are fired from the university where they work because they are Jewish. Ruth won't leave Otto, her husband, Anushka, their daughter, Freddie, her mentally disabled brother, and Miriam, her aunt; so Robert leaves her, and moves to Palestine. When the Nazi party gets stronger, Miriam gets immigration certificates for the family, but not for herself, because of her age. The family immigrates to Israel, and Ruth tries to get a certificate for Miriam, but even her manipulative charm doesn't break through the bureaucracy, and Miriam dies in Germany. Otto has a hard time adjusting, and ends up teaching in a high school. Ruth discovers that Freddie is a pedophile, and accuses him of attacking Anushka. Freddie commits suicide. Anushka becomes a communist as part of her adolescent rebellion, and she meets Robert (without knowing who he is), who is also a communist. Anushka becomes pregnant, and gives birth to Naomi. In the end Robert is united with Naomi, after being released from prison (for being a communist).
Format: Drama
Cast Size:4F/4M
Notes:
Mazya turned the play into a novel called Family Novel.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Cameri, 1996
Cameri, 1996
Nationality of Author: Israeli
Original Language: Hebrew
Publisher:
Experience(s) Chronicled: Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism | Escape | European Jewry Before the Holocaust
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
Lifetime Achievement Award
The National Jewish Theater Foundation presented its 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award to Alfred Uhry. The presentation took place as part of the Lincoln Center Library event on January 27th 2025 in commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 80th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz
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.