The Roma Center organized two events with the Theaterwerkstatt Göttingen as part of the Alliance 27 January's series of events to commemorate the victims of National Socialism. On January 26 and 27, the Theaterwerkstatt presented its play Child Survivors, which brought the audience closer to the stories of ten people who survived the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as children. The texts recited by the actors and presented in installations were taken from interviews and autobiographical information from the survivors, including the well-known Roma artist Ceja Stojka, who survived not only Bergen-Belsen, but also Ravensbrück and Auschwitz.
The play impresses with its deliberately factual and simple narrative from the perspective of the children and the adults who have grown up from them about everyday life in the camp, about the everydayness of death, hunger and violence. Beyond artificial kitsch and unnecessary emotionalization, the play creates empathy for the victims by allowing them to speak for themselves, thus leaving the power over the narrative with them. (Opens in a new tab/window)