Hell on Earth: Manya Frydman Perel's Shoah Experience
Hell on Earth: Manya Frydman Perel's Shoah Experience
Hell on Earth: Manya Frydman Perel's Shoah Experience
Hell on Earth: Manya Frydman Perel's Shoah Experience is a one-woman play performed by senior theatre major, Darby Pumphrey. The play, written by Theatre and Dance Instructor Dr. Anthony Hostetter, is not only about Manya Perel, it uses her actual words to describe her experience of loss and survival. Perel lost her parents and seven brothers and sisters during the Holocaust. After performing hard labor, experiencing starvation and disease in eight concentration camps, Manya and a friend escaped the death march by hiding in a forest. Darby Pumphrey, who’s great-grandmother survived the concentration camps, will be performing this play in local schools in 2019.
Manya Frydman Perel
Manya Frydman Perel was born in 1924 in Radom, Poland, one of ten children. As a teenager she attended a public school and hoped to go to college. However these plans were obliterated in September 1939 when the Nazi army marched into the city and confiscated homes and businesses, and eventually imprisoned all the Jewish people.
In April 1941 she was imprisoned in the Radom ghetto and then later deported
to several concentration and death camps including Ravensbrück, Plaszow, Rechlin, Gundelsdorf, and Auschwitz. She performed hard labor and nearly starved to death. Despite the horrible living conditions, scarce food rations and the constant threat of the gas chambers and death, Manya risked her life to save others. Her bravery, in the face of such destitution, is an inspiration to others.
In 1945, Manya and a friend escaped a death march from Auschwitz by fleeing into a forest where, on May 5, the Russians liberated them. In July 1945 she was taken to a displaced-persons (DP) camp in Stuttgart, Germany where she was reunited with the remaining members of her family. She recuperated here and waited for her turn to leave Europe and immigrate to Montreal, Canada.
In 1958, she moved with her husband to Philadelphia and raised a family and is now a proud grandmother. Her family has promised to take over her task and carry on her legacy from generation to generation. She says, “I hope that my life will be an example for others not to take life for granted, not to be prejudiced toward others, and to respect one another. After all, we only have one life to live.”
Darby Pumphrey (as Manya)
Darby is a senior at Rowan University in the Musical Theatre concentration. Previous credits: Last 5 Years, The Shape of Things (Eagle Theatre),Carrie: the Musical and X (Rowan University). Upcoming:Hair (Rowan University), Ragtime(Eagle Theatre). Darby met Manya Perel in August 2018. She would like to thank Manya for letting her share this powerful and important story.
The Production:
This 75 minute performance is available to schools and can be performed in small or large spaces and has limited technical requirements. The facilitated audience discussion that follows the performance focuses on Holocaust history and issues of bigotry and tolerance. Students also have the opportunity to ask questions relating to the performance and the Holocaust in general. Two hours for the performance and the discussion are ideal, however, with time constraints, we can keep the performance and discussion to 90 minutes.
Video Excerpts:
