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...
Mendelssohn Does Not Live Here Anymore
Author(s): Henrik Eger
Because of the scarcity of wallpaper during WWII, Gritt, a beautiful musician, papers the walls with old music sheets, including her newly discovered favorite, unaware of Felix Mendelssohn's Jewish background. After her dedicated officer husband Alf's initial erotic bantering, he discovers his wife’s love for Mendelssohn’s music and flies into a rage. He then tries to educate her on the danger of Jewish art and music. She does not understand his violent anti-Semitism and refuses to give up her love for Mendelssohn's music. Her resistance leads to his destructive action and a surprise ending.
Format: Short play
Cast Size:1M/1F
Running Time: 15 minutes
Character breakdown:
Gritt, wife, who loves Mendelssohn’s music.
Alf, husband, young German officer, who hates anything Jewish.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Bloomfield, MI
Jewish Ensemble Theatre, Bloomfield, MI
Original Source Material: Interviews with older Germans on their recollections of what people said about Mendelssohn during the Third Reich, plus countless historical documents.
Nationality of Author: German
Original Language: English, also available in German
Publisher:
Self-published, 2008
Production Rights Holder:
Experience(s) Chronicled: Perpetrators, Bystanders and Collaborators | Women and the Holocaust | Righteous Gentiles | 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.