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LANT, Lucy The Jewish Theater of Austria Suggests Hope
Less than two months ago I discovered that there was a Jewish Theatre of Austria. My excitement over this discovery was manifold: firstly as an artist and theatre worker, I was intrigued by the opportunity to work in an area of theatre that was both historical and revolutionary in conception and secondly, as I am personally descended from Viennese Jewish Shoah victims who fled to London in 1938, I could not think of a more meaningful project to be involved with, here, in the heart of Vienna, the city where this terrible era of human history first found its poisonous roots.The re-establishment of Jewish Culture in Vienna has not only powerful repercussions for the Viennese, and all Austrians, who have not yet really faced their own history; it is also a symbol of the resistance of persecuted people, of the human spirit that cannot be murdered by evil. The Jewish Theatre of Austria is not only a symbol of hope for Jews - it stands for all who suffer from racist, political or religious persecution the world over.With this thought in mind, I would appeal to all people who struggle for human rights around the world to show support, however they can, for the Jewish Theatre of Austria and its aim to restore the old Jewish Theatre as a place of contemporary culture. In the work of the Jewish Theater of Austria, a heritage that was ravaged by Nazism has found its voice again, and it comes not to condemn but rather to celebrate life where once there was only death and sorrow and silence and trauma.
Lucy Lant, Puppets Up, Vienna / London
2004-05-04
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