Mela

Author(s):

Mela finds love and courage while rescuing Jewish brothers from the Warsaw Ghetto, and commits to encouraging the rescued to remember their Jewish heritage, despite her own Catholicism.
Format: Drama
Cast Size: 1F

Snapshot

Original or Prominent Production: Jerusalem, August 2004, in commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of Yad Vashem.
Original Source Material: Inspired by the true story of Amelia "Mela" Roslan. Michael Halperin first told the story in a screenplay that became the basis for the best-selling children’s book Jacob’s Rescue written by Halperin and Malka Drucker and published by Doubleday. The screenplay was written from the point of view of Mela’s husband, Alex. The book related the story from the rescued children’s viewpoint. Halperin felt that Mela’s heroic story had to be told. She was mother to her own children and to the children given into her care and held the family together while fending off incursions from Polish collaborators, police, and the German Gestapo.
Nationality of Author:
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:

Contact author’s agent: Camilla Shestopal, Peters Fraser & Dunlop, London.
See also playwright’s website.

Experience(s) Chronicled: | | | | |