Fania's role in the Resistance

I found this quote very interesting. Even her role in the Resistance relied heavily on her musical abilities.


"I Saw Hitler standing on the top of the Arc de Triomphe... it filled me with such loathing I swore I would spend my life doing what I could to destroy this plague. I sang in cabarets where German officers went. When they were drunk I would photograph the contents of the briefcases and pass them along." - Fania Fenelon on her role in the Resistance


Also, here she is:

Research

So today I was doing some research for the show and (although I know that wiki is sometimes very unreliable) I managed to pull up some really cool stuff.
I found pages on Mandel, Alma, The orchestra, Mengele, and even Commandant Kramer; Plus some various pages on the badges. I hope you'll take a look!

Mandel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Mandel
Orchestra:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_orchestra_of_Auschwitz
Alma:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma_Rosé
Kramer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Kramer
Mengele: (Some information is graphic and you may not like it, so I'm giving you the head's-up)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mengele

After finding Kramer, I got pretty excited and tried really hard to find Schmidt and Heinz, but I couldn't. If anyone find them it would be great to put 'em up. But for now, I also looked in on some badges and found some really cool stuff. I found two charts which were, unfortunately, in German, But was persistant and managed to pull up a page with an english chart.

German:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Kennzeichen_für_Schutzhäftlinge_in_den_Konzentrationslagern.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/German_concentration_camp_chart_of_prisoner_markings.jpg

English page: (The chart's at the bottom)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_concentration_camp_badges

I know Mr. Jackson wanted us to create our own characters, but I thought it might help to have some idea of your jobs, positions, daily duties, etc.(Sorry Claire, I figured Fania was easy enough to find!) Have fun!
~Erin

Transformations in the show

Hey guys, Mr. Jackson said we should start our own posts so I thought I would give it a try. This blog is really important and I want to be more active in it.

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of playing Marianne is how she changes through the show. At the beginning, she is afraid of everything and puts her life completely in Fania's hands. As the show progresses, She realizes she can't simply depend on Fania and seeks food by other means. She even becomes so independent that she turns her back on Fania in the end. I want this transformation to become more and more visible through my acting. Running act one and two has made me realize this.

I think a sort of transformation is in every character. What do you guys think? I know by the end Esther has grown a sort of admiration for Fania that she didn't have at the start of the show. I'd love to hear what the rest of the cast and crew think about this.

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Fania Fenelon was tatooed with this number.

She survived quite a while in Paris being half Jewish and a celebrated Cabaret singer. Her deportation occured in early 1944 and the liberation of the camp occurs exactly one year later in January of 1945.

http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/auschwitz/

-Corey

The Resistance...

Caitlin asked about the resistance movements at our last rehearsal and this is something you should all be aware of especially if that is your particular characters background. Some of the Aryan members of the orchestra did not land here because of faith, background, or sexual preference. Some, like the poles, were considered racially inferior due to their nationality. Up until 1942, non-Jewish poles were the majority at Aushwitcz. Sometimes they spoke out in actions which got arms to those in the ghettos and camps. Other times they spoke out in newspapers, opinion columns, etc.

Elzvieta in our show has a real dilemna. It didn't work. In her eyes, she tried as a member of the Polish Resistance to get the word out and had hoped that when the leaders of her church found out what was going on, it would come to a quick end. It didn't. They didn't bomb the rails leading to the camps. They didn't bomb the smoke stacks and gas chambers. They waited.

Overall Site on all Resistance movements:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:World_War_II_resistance_movements

Great clip on the Warsaw uprising as the poles try to save themselves from two potential enemies, Communist Russia and Nazi Germany:

http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-2311-13521-10/on_this_day/conflict_war/twt

Fania was a member of the French Resistance. Here is a great article from the BBC on Ladies of the French Resistance:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7142424.stm


I would be interested in your thoughts on this.