Child Performers in Terezin Concentration Camp

On Friday, April 19, from 7:30-9 p.m., Or Emet will host a Shabbat service followed by a program and social time. The events will take place at the Minnesota JCC Sabes Center Minneapolis, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis. 

The service will be led by Eva Cohen, Or Emet’s ritual leader and a Humanistic rabbi in training. 

After the service, Judith Brin Ingber, former head of the dance department at the University of Minnesota and acknowledged Jewish dance historian, will present her illustrated talk, “Exterminating Pests: Fireflies, Ladybugs and Children at Terezin Concentration Camp.” 

Brin Ingber has been researching performances in the unlikely site of the Nazi ghetto camp outside Prague for more than 30 years. During World War II, over 12,000 children were imprisoned there with their families, as well as artists including the dancer/choreographer Kamila Rosenbumova. She created musicals for and by children. 

Only 100 children survived the war and there was barely anyone to tell the story of the remarkable musicals in Terezin. But Brin Ingber persevered in her research, which resulted in performances at the St. Paul Slovak Czech center, Sokol, as well as her chapter in the new online, free textbook for high school and college students, “The Holocaust: Remembrance, Respect, and Resilience.”

Those who cannot attend the program in person may join over Zoom. Please register in advance here. 

Or Emet is a secular congregation celebrating and honoring Jewish culture, history and values from a humanistic, inclusive perspective. For more information, email [email protected] or visit oremet.org.