Kunst und Krieg. Ein Leben kann Schatten werfen

In the organizer's words:

Why are times of greatest need also times of great literature and extraordinary people? Selma Merbaum's short, intrepid life shows us how power, arbitrariness and violence not only create powerlessness, but also imagination, resistance and beauty in the courageous.

Selma Merbaum, born in Czernowitz in 1924, is considered one of the most outstanding Jewish poets in the German language. A series of events is dedicated to her life and work, which aims to commemorate the important poet with various formats and renowned cooperation partners in Heidelberg. The focus is on 57 wonderful poems that were saved through the horrors of the time, while Selma died in an SS labor camp in the winter of 1942 at the age of 18.

The theater production is part of a series that is an interplay of readings, lectures and musical-poetic approaches. Together, the various events lead up to one play: "Art and War - A Life Can Cast Shadows", will celebrate its premiere on June 6, 2025 at the Karlstorbahnhof and will then be shown on five further dates in June. In this production, Merbaum's poetry comes to life - as an artistic response to a time that took the poet's life, but not the power of her voice.

In impressive images, the play will tell of the poetic power that formed hope, beauty and resistance even in the midst of violence and extermination: Selma was a member of the Zionist youth group "Hashomer Hatzair", in which she engaged in a community of like-minded people for freedom, education and cultural self-determination. This group of young people, whose members were closely connected to each other and kept alive the hope of a new life - in the variously interpreted promised land - gave each other support and dynamic visions of the future, love and new beginnings in dark times. In this group, Selma also met Leiser Fichman, for whom she developed deep feelings. Her affection, her longing - all of this is reflected in her poems. Leiser was also unable to reach the promised land.

With this theater project, B.O. Theater is taking a stand against increasing xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Together with the cooperation partners, the aim is to create spaces for remembrance and current political discourse. The different art forms and formats at different locations create references, intertwine and complement each other to form a communicative field.

Text: Hubert Habig, based on the Selma Merbaum biography by Marion Tauschwitz
Choreography: Catherin Guerin
Space: Motz Tietze
Music: Martin Bärenz
Cooperation partners: Hochschule für Jüdische Studien Heidelberg, Kulturhaus Karlstorbahnhof, Interkulturelles Zentrum, Völkerkundemuseum Heidelberg
Participants: Hubert Habig, Marion Tauschwitz, Martin Bärenz, Catherine Guerin, Motz Tietze, Elisa Pfeifer, Christiane Adam
With: Helga Karola Wolf, Alana Gergen, Nele Kiau, Oliver Dawid, Mona Okunick, Nico Weiland, Kosta Gatos, Hanna Hettich and Laurent Leroi.

The [B.O.]-heater Heidelberg is a member of the Freie Theaterverein Heidelberg e.V.

Price information:

Box Office € 22.00 Advance booking € 20.80 Reduced prices: Box Office: € 15.00 Advance booking: € 14.20