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...
The Trial of God: (As It Was Held on February 25, 1649, in Shamgorod)
Author(s): Elie Wiesel
Set in a Ukrainian village in 1649, the play takes place in the aftermath of a pogrom. A Jewish innkeeper, Berish, and his daughter Hannah survive the raid, and when three actors arrive in the village to perform a Purim play, Berish demands that they stage a mock trial to indict God for His silence in the face of evil. A mysterious stranger named Sam arrives and volunteers to play the role of prosecutor.
Notes:
The play was produced on PBS Television in 2008 with the title God on Trial.
Elie Wiesel moved to New York City in 1955 and subsequently became an American citizen. In the U.S. he wrote over 40 books and won many literary prizes. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986 for speaking out against violence, repression and racism.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Premiered by Bucket Productions at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas on February 2, 2000.
Premiered by Bucket Productions at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas, Texas on February 2, 2000.
Original Source Material: Based on events Elie Wiesel witnessed first-hand as a teenager while interned in Auschwitz: "Three rabbis—all erudite and pious men—decided one evening to indict God for allowing His children to be massacred. I remember: I was there, and I felt like crying. But there nobody cried."
Nationality of Author: Romanian
Original Language: French
Publisher:
First published in English in 1979 by Random House.
Schocken/Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1995
Samuel French
Production Rights Holder:
All rights handled by Georges Borchardt, Inc.
Experience(s) Chronicled:
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.