The Rokiškis Theater Association of the Juozas Miltinis Gymnasium presented the play Nutildytos Mūzos [Silenced Muses] directed by Neringa Danienė in Panevėžys April 21 to commemorate Holocaust victims. The play was based on real events. The original play was written using the diary of the young Jewish girl Matilda Olkin and the memoirs of her contemporaries. The moving story about the fate of the family of the pharmacist Naum Olkin from Panemunėlis in the Rokiškis region of Lithuania and the muse silenced before its time just as it was about to bloom in the young and talented poetess Matilda is topical in the context of ever-growing dangers in the world today, and compels us to think about the senselessness of war and the fragility of this day.
The Panevėžys Jewish Community invited the public to attend this play not just because of its high artistic value, but also because it serves as an educational and cultural aid for teaching young people about the dark passages of the history of the Holocaust. Invitations were sent to all Panevėžys educational institutions and to members of the city council. The Education Department of the municipality of Panevėžys was repeatedly asked to send out invitations as well to all educational institutions, and to emphasize the educational value of the drama. Sadly, not all educational institutions responded.
“I think the Education Department of the municipality of Panevėžys did not do all they could have. I was likewise very surprised by the Miltinis Gymnasium. This educational institution, the closest to the theater and which itself prepares and presents wonderful plays and prepares talented students for artistic endeavors, didn’t manage to find the time nor summon the will to watch the play. All I can do is repeat that old saying, that a people who do not know and do not respect history is doomed to perish,” Panevėžys Jewish Community chairman Gennady Kofman lamented after the play.
Actors were invited to the Panevėžys Jewish Community where chairman Kofman answered their questions about the history of the Jews of Panevėžys, kosher food and the Passover holiday which was celebrated recently.
Words of thanks for the meeting organized by the Panevėžys Jewish Community kept coming all evening. Neringa Danienė, director of the play from the Rokiškis Theater Association, thanked the Community for the warm reception and expressed the wish and hope the play will be staged in the other larger cities in Lithuania, Šiauliai, Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda.
