The holocaust play, Children of Drancy: a montage of voices, is about the French concentration camp of Drancy, outside Paris, that operated during the German occupation of France, 1940-44. The play was created entirely from letters, archival documents, as well as the poetry and drawings of victims of the arrest and deportation of Jews, including 11,400 children, from French concentration camps to Auschwitz. Most of the victims were deported from Drancy. In all, almost 76,000 were deported. 2,000 children were less than six years old. None of these young children survived. In all, only 2,500 of the deportees ever returned.
The play is set mainly in 1942, at the height of the deportations, but two long years before liberation. France has found, and continues to find, its own ways of memorializing Drancy, one of the darkest chapters of the “années noires,” or black years. Yet if these events are not to be forgotten by the rest of us, if they are to persist as a “living memory” for us, then the voices of the victims should be allowed to speak once more….
The place is France, and the concentration camp at Drancy outside Paris.
Children of Drancy: a resource for Holocaust awareness
The play can be a useful resource for schools or community groups who want to raise Holocaust awareness. At Northeastern, the play was presented in a full-fledged production in 2007, in a performance that lasted 70 minutes. Each performance was followed by a discussion with the audience led by a professor and also involving the director and the actors. The play could also be used more simply as a dramatic reading or as reading material for a class. In 2011 an award-winning production of the play was directed by Mr. Casey Rush at Mount Desert Island High School in Maine.
For a copy of the script, please send $5 to: Inez Hedges, 411A Highland Ave. #321, Somerville, MA 02144. Performance rights can also be cleared by writing to this address. Please indicate whether you wish to receive a copy in English or in the original French.
A DVD with additional excerpts of the Northeastern performance and the full tape of interviews with the cast, director, writer, and set designer can be ordered by sending $20 to Inez Hedges. The DVD also includes the photo-stories and background information featured on this website.