'Hiding in the Open' WordsAndPictures: Sabina Zimering’s Holocaust story restaged at History Theatre
Sabina (Elise Langer) and her sister Helka (Devon Solorow) are on the run in “Hiding in the Open” at the History Theatre. (Lauren B. Photography)
"My feelings about it are pretty complex. I first wish it wouldn't have happened. The losses, the cruelty-how could any of that happen in the 20th century when people are supposedly so civilized? But of course, it can't be changed, so then I'm glad I survived it. Maybe it gave me some deeper insight that wouldn't have existed if my life was normal and smooth."
The sound of gunshots and barking dogs is what St. Louis Park resident Sabina Zimering remembers about running from her Jewish ghetto in Nazi Germany. She was 16. She lived with her family of five in a one-bedroom apartment and was not allowed to work or go to school. Hunger was constant. From there things got worse. Eventually, Zimering and her younger sister acquired forged documents and posed as Catholics to escape the Holocaust.
"Hiding in the Open," the story of Zimering and her younger sister, Helka, is back on stage at the History Theatre through March 21. Originally the theater commissioned local playwright Kira Obolensky to bring Zimering's story to the stage in 2004 and it returns now with Hayley Finn as director and Elise Langer and Devon Solorow in the roles of the girls.
"I think it is a remarkable personal story," Obolensky said. "For me, as a woman, I respond to the pluck and ingenuity and incredible bravery of two girls who saved their own lives."
It is, she admitted, a complicated coming-of-age story. "The Holocaust is swirling around them and they are still trying to become women. They still have many of the same concerns we would have, but obviously the fabric of their lives is much more complicated," Obolensky said.
War and genocide are realities in the lives of the sisters, and Obolensky believes they are important parts of the story to tell. "You know, it never goes away. It seems to be something that human beings perpetrate again and again and again." Obolensky reflected: "One of the astonishing things about [Zimering's] story is how much room there was for life even among the constant reminder of death."
As "Hiding in the Open" comes alive on stage this winter, memories that were once kept deep inside of a survivor are now being retold.
