The play is over but Jack Winget is not done yet. His docudrama A Nightmare of Crime was the focus of a recent sabbatical. It was presented on campus in early March. Now he has had requests to take the play to high schools.
“I believe that the messages ‘to stand up for what you believe’ and ‘Never Again’ are particularly relevant to today’s youth in light of Darfur, Rwanda and Middle East problems,” he said. “We hope to have the same effect on high school audiences that we have had on B-W audiences….to care enough to make a difference.”
A Nightmare of Crime, written and directed by Winget, is the story of the sonderkommando, Jewish prisoners who were forced to aid in the extermination of their comrades (and sometimes their own families) and were themselves sent to the gas chambers. Winget first learned about the sonderkommando through his father-in-law, Joe Nowak, who had fought in WWII. Because Nowak spoke Polish, he often helped to repatriate Jewish prisoners in Poland.
Sorting through Nowak’s possessions, Winget discovered a book entitled Amidst a Nightmare of Crime. It was based on letters of six sonderkommando at Auschwitz/Birkenau, the Nazi death camp in Poland. The letters had been buried on the campgrounds in the hope that they would be discovered and the world would then understand what had transpired there.
Fascinated, Winget traveled to Poland last summer to research the sonderkommando, and spent the fall writing his drama. The result was a powerful story that affected audiences and the cast alike.
Rhoda Rosen, a well-known local actress who is Jewish and played a prisoner, has played many different roles and worn hundreds of costumes. But when she donned the dirtied blue and white stripped pajamas with the yellow star she said, “I didn’t realize the power of that uniform or how it would affect me. I realized if it weren’t for my grandparents coming to this country, this wouldn’t have been a costume. It could have been something I would have worn.” Many students, although not Jewish, also felt a powerful transformation as they got into their roles, either as Jews or Nazis.
In preparation for the play, Winget found ways to educate the cast about the Holocaust, through a meeting with a survivor of the camps, to viewing films about the Holocaust, to talking with Rosen about her background.
During the production he also added educational sessions for audiences including a presentation by Kate Craddy, director of the Galacia Jewish Museum in Krakow and a photo exhibit from the museum.
Todd Leach ’95, created an installation related to the play which was also exhibited in the lobby. Other presentations included a memory of WWII with Bettye Lou Versaci Higgins ’74; the challenges of doing Holocaust drama with Amanda Durst, actor, director and daughter of Dick and Karen Durst; a survivors’ forum; and a discussion on the sonderkommando with former B-W chaplain Hank Knight (now director of the Cohen Center for Holocaust Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire).
Winget hopes that his production will not only educate students but help to ensure that such horrors are not repeated. “‘Lest we forget, lest we repeat’ is the mantra that guides the spirit of this project,” he said. A Nightmare of Crime was supported by a number of campus groups as well as the Berea Arts Fest and the Ohio Arts Council.
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