The community will get a chance to hear the stories of descendants of Holocaust survivors when the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center invites The Braid, a Jewish story company, to Milwaukee in September.
The center will host the theater’s show “Remembrance of Things Present” at the Ivy House at 4 p.m. on Sept. 22. The show, a collection of true stories about descendants of Holocaust survivors, will be told by professional actors.
The audience “can expect to be moved, surprised, delighted,” said Ronda Spinak, The Braid’s cofounder and artistic director. “They can expect to be thinking, to be feeling and to be proud.”
The Holocaust is not only about the horrifying number of people killed; it is about the lives cut short and the lost potential, said Samantha Abramson, the center’s executive director.
“We choose this show because we are in 2024, and we are at this point where we don’t have that many Holocaust survivors with us anymore,” Abramson said. “It is really going to be up to all of us to carry the torch when they’re no longer with us.
“This show … focuses on the children and grandchildren of survivors picking up that torch and what that legacy means for themselves, for their families and for the impact they want to make in the world.”
Tickets to the show, sponsored by the Kennedy Family Foundation, can be purchased on the center’s website HolocaustCentermilwaukee.org.
The show in Milwaukee will feature the story of the son and grandson of Tuvia Bielski, who was the leader of the Jewish armed resistance against the Nazis, and their struggles trying to live up to his heroism. Another story called “The Basement” is about a woman’s first awareness of the fact that there are people in this world that want to hurt Jews. There are also narratives about forgiveness and guilt, as well as a story about a family road trip and what sacrifices parents make for their children.
“I was hesitant to do a show about the second and third generation survivors,” Spinak said. “I just thought it was going to be just such a downer. What I discovered … was this legacy of strength. You have generational trauma, absolutely, but you also see this incredible resilience, incredible inspiration.”
Another story is about a woman who went back to Germany to see her family’s farmhouse that was abandoned after Kristallnacht.
“It’s what remains after tragedy and going back,” Spinak said.
The Braid began as the Jewish Women’s Theatre in the spring of 2007 with the intention of giving voice to Jewish women. It began in the backyard of a home in Pacific Palisades, California and is now based in Santa Monica. Its signature program is called “Salon Theatre,” a series of shows featuring stories, poems, comedic monologues and songs.
Over the last 16 years, The Braid has developed more than 80 shows and performed more than 1,000 stories, working to become a “go-to” Jewish story company and nonprofit organization that creates, curates, produces and preserves Jewish stories.
The Braid is “just amazing storytelling company that was founded by Jewish women who have made it their mission to capture Jewish life moments and put them on stage,” Abramson said.
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How to go
What: “Remembrance of Things Present” – true stories about descendants of Holocaust survivors
Where: Ivy House
When: Sunday, Sept. 22, 4 p.m.
RSVP: HolocaustCentermilwaukee.org.
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