An engaging, multi-media exhibition featuring:
- INFORMATION PANELS
- PHOTOS
- VIDEOS
- SONG AUDIO TRACKS
- LIGHT BOXES
- SHOWCASE OF PERSONAL ARTIFACTS
- MONITOR SCREENS with SCROLLING LOOPED IMAGES
- ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
- THEATRE POSTERS
- SHOW PROGRAMS
- DOCUMENTARY- INTERVIEW & THEATRE FILM FOOTAGE and more …
This exhibition was conceptualized and developed by the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre, curated to be easily transportable for travel around the world!
In June, 2023, the international travelling exhibition “Chayela Rosenthal – Wunderkind of the Vilna Ghetto” opened at the Cape Town Holocaust & Genocide Centre in South Africa. The launch of the exhibition coincided with the 80th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto by the Nazis in 1943.
Amongst the Holocaust survivors, was Vilna born Yiddish Actress and singing star of the Vilna Ghetto Theatre, Chayela Rosenthal. After having survived the Vilna Ghetto, Kaiserwald Labour camp, Stutthof concentration camp and a death march to the Baltic Sea, Chayela married fellow survivor Xavier Piatka, and went on to have a remarkable international career in Yiddish theatre on Broadway and all around the world, with many stars of stage and screen.
Against the backdrop of Vilna, “The Jerusalem of Lithuania”, the exhibition, explores Chayela’s pre-war life and her extraordinary tale of survival and resistance through her music, and that of her brother, the poet and composer Leyb Rozental, a member of The Paper Brigade, who was murdered in the Klooga camp. The exhibition also explores the connections to YIVO, and Chayela’s post war career and enormous contribution to Yiddish theatre internationally and on Broadway. Finally, the exhibition shows how Xavier and their daughters, Zola and Naava, continued the legacy of Chayela, after her untimely death at the age of 55.
To bring this exhibition to your community
Email: admin@holocaust.org.za or Call: +27 21 462 5553
Virtual Tours of the Exhibition
THE PANELS
- Please note: All Panels and their images (photos below) are owned by The Cape Town Holocaust and Genocide Centre and may NOT be downloaded, replicated, copied, reproduced or be used in any form without their signed Permission. ©2023 CTHGC
SHOWCASE OF ARTIFACTS
The top and dresses Chayela wore on stage, The Blue Book where she wrote down all the songs her brother and others wrote in the Vilna Ghetto, her fluffy little mascot lion she called Leyb, the puppet YISROILIK, NO GOODBYES- the book about her life, IN SACRED MEMORY – the book featuring Chayela and Xavier’s ( and other South African survivors’) testimonies, Chayela songs recorded on CD and one of her LP album covers.
THE FIRST OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION – 2023
ANCILLARY ” Live” EVENTS
IN THE PRESS
https://cjc.org.za/2023/06/01/chayela-all-about-life
Click this link to read the full article: https://thecaperobyn.co.za/in-the-limelight-chayela-rosenthal-wunderkind-of-the-vilna-ghetto-theatre/
Fine Music Radio 101.3FM – South Africa:
Philip Todres interviews ZOLA about the CHAYELA Exhibition:
PHILIP TODRES – MAPMYWAY article http://mapmyway.co.za/chayela-rosenthal-wunderkind-of-the-vilna-ghetto-theatre/
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To bring this exhibition to your community centre, town or country, Email: admin@holocaust.org.za or Call: +27 21 462 5553
PHOTOS OF VISITORS AT THE “CHAYELA” EXHIBITION
THE LIVE CONCERT
CELEBRATING CHAYELA IN SONG
The VILNA – LITHUANIA – 2023 – CHAYELA & LEYB EXHIBITION
EXHIBITION IN JOHANNESBURG / GAUTENG
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DURBAN HOLOCAUST & GENOCIDE CENTRE – 2024
TO BRING THIS TRAVELING EXHIBITION TO YOUR TOWN
please contact: admin@holocaust.org.za
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Chayela Rosenthal 