Drama Group Visit to Manchester Jewish Museum

Some of the Year 11 GCSE Drama group will be performing the play Angel: A Nightmare in Two Acts which uses the setting of the Holocaust to explore the values of our society. It looks at questions of personal responsibility and how people can be seduced by evil.
Unsurprisingly this is a challenge for Year 11s so they committed a Sunday in March to find out more about the Holocaust from a survivor of this terrible time.

Together with Ms Le Cheminant and Ms Lambie they first immersed themselves in Jewish culture at the ‘meaty’ JS Kosher Restaurant.

They then drove to the Jewish Museum in Cheetham Hill. Here they looked at artefacts from Jewish life in Manchester through history. Especially moving was the book of remembrance of those who had survived the Holocaust and those who had not.

We were then incredibly privileged to be given a private interview with Jack Aizenberg who shared his memories and sorrow of the terrible things he experienced during the Nazi persecution of the Jews of Poland. His story reached out to us in different ways but none of us could fail to be affected by the immediacy of his pain, more than 60 years on, his quiet dignity and his love for England, the country that welcomed him and allowed him to rebuild his life. His insistence that the world should not forget what happened during the Nazi persecutions and never allow it to happen again was made more powerful by his personal experiences of loss, hunger and isolation.

Danielle Grimes, who plays Olga, a survivor of Auschwitz explains how the play has helped her bring reality and sincerity to her role.

I learned from the Holocaust survivor that he doesn’t take anything for granted. He has been labelled as worthless all the way through the war and now he just wants to be known for who he is, Jack. He talks really softly. I am going to take this on board as I play the survivor in Angels of the Holocaust. It will help me greatly.

Unity College wants to thank Jeremy Michealson of Manchester Jewish Museum for making our visit possible, and most of all Jack for giving us an experience none of us could ever forget.