Dear friends and theatre enthusiasts,
We would like to introduce you to a completely different kind of project.
In May of this year, for the first time in a “fictional encounter” as part of a Stolperstein laying ceremony, we slipped into the roles of two survivors who had managed to escape and are now visiting their former hometown.
To this Friday A Stolperstein laying ceremony is taking place in Bad Brückenau, to which we are contributing with our performance…
We also extend a warm invitation.
pohyb's and the like
Maike Jansen & Stefan Ferencz
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Regarding the laying of Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) in Haßfurt on May 29th and Bad Brückenau on September 29th, 2023
By Alex Klubertanz
Maike & Stefan, also known as Pohyb's & Associates, accompanied our first laying of Stolpersteine (stumbling stones) at Pentecost 2023 in Haßfurt with a dramatic presentation – and thus contributed significantly to making this event a truly moving and stirring experience for all involved – especially for the descendants of the Rosenthal family of victims.
Maike and Stefan portrayed the two surviving children of the family as they visited their hometown in the 1960s – a fictional, but entirely plausible setting. The two come to Haßfurt, visit the places of their childhood and youth, and their memories resurface: the celebrations at their parents' house, the festivities at the synagogue, and the deportation from Haßfurt train station that led most of the family to the extermination camps.
Maike and Stefan didn't simply let their imaginations run wild; they intensively studied the sources that provide information about the Rosenthals. This was also the case for their second such assignment, the relocation of Gitta Oppenheimer's grave on September 29, 2023, in Bad Brückenau, when they took on the roles of Arnold and Reni Zeller: Here, too, two survivors of the crime against humanity in the 1960s return to their hometown and remember.
Impressive performances that left no one in the audience unmoved. What remains is a sense of how deeply Jewish life and culture were rooted in the community – and what we have lost…
