Holocaust Lessons for a Bully Free World

This is a Holocaust program that transforms this frequently inaccessible topic into a relevant and immediate experience for audiences of all ages. Two performers, embodying a variety of roles – director, bullies, rescuers, and Hitler youth – invite their audiences, through rap and step dance, to participate in join-in re-enactments as perpetrators, victims and rescuers. The arc of the presentation begins with references to everyday newspapers – from the Daily News to Der Stürmer – and demands its audience examine racial and religious hatred: Bullying – both historical and contemporary – and ends with empathetic examples of empowerment through tolerance and love. The audience is allowed to examine socially relevant real-life racist situations – both as they occur in present day office and school settings, and as they occurred in Germany in 1937-38. Historical re-enactments highlighting the program include the gentile rescue of Odette Meyers; the work of Sister Donata of Milan, Italy who created an underground railroad through the country's monasteries, convents and schools to move endangered people into neutral Switzerland; and the hiding of Anne Frank and her family. A lively sound track and the art of quick-change sets the scene and keeps the audience involved and engaged in this highly volatile and significantly current topic.

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