Mein Onkel David

In the organizer's words:

"My father couldn't talk about it. He wanted to protect me, I think. I realized that it hurt him and didn't ask, back when I was little."

In the performance My Uncle David, director Svetlana Fourer goes in search of traces of her family's history and the traumatic experiences of the Shoah, which the family kept silent about for decades. Research in the archives of the Shoah Foundation revealed the life story of her uncle David, who was a concentration camp survivor and also survived the extermination of part of his family.

My Uncle David is conceived as a walk-in space of remembrance in which performer Yaroslava Gorobey traces the paths and experiences of the Jewish Ochland family, accompanied sensitively and powerfully by live music from Berlin musician and composer Matthias Bernhold. The performance shows how a memory that one has not lived and experienced oneself can shape each and every one of us.

The examination of family history that this evening invites is also a conversation with us as a society, with questions about belonging and our own identity. And last but not least, the search for an answer to the question of how Jewish life is possible in Germany today, after October 7, 2023.

The performance My Uncle David is expected to be shown in October 2025 at the Florida Holocaust Museum in Saint Petersburg, Florida, USA.

Contributors:

Director, artistic direction, text: Svetlana Fourer
Actress: Yaroslava Gorobey
Music: Matthias Bernhold
Dramaturgy: Florence Herrmann
Choreography: Ilona Pászthy
Stage design: Hannah Beeck
Stage design and video assistance: José Miguel Hernández Labrot
Video installation: Lisa Domin-Alouane
Costume design: Maike Kranz
Production management: Gabi Linde
Assistant director: Regina Bensch
Psychological support: Stella Shcherbatova
Controlling: Olga Moldaver
Technology & lighting: Daniel Swoboda

Supported by the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne.

Price information:

Solidarity-based pricing model