The Berlin Diaries – A Story About Family

Oct 25, 2023 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Susie Rosenbluth and Sue Weston, Two Sues on the Aisle

The Berlin Diaries is an autobiographical play written by Andrea Stolowitz recounting the quest to unravel her family’s history. It is based on a journal from her German-Jewish great-grandfather, Dr. Max Cohnreich. Andrea’s journey began eight years after receiving the diary, after getting a grant to write a play based on the diary. The diary itself, an important family heirloom, had been donated to the United States Holocaust Museum by Andrea’s mother (Peggy).

On the surface, Max’s diary appears to have provided little information about the extended Cohnreich family. Andrea’s relatives never acknowledged being impacted by the Holocaust, and believed “everyone escaped.” Digging into archival records in Berlin, Andrea uncovered family connections that no one had ever mentioned – some were still alive, dispersed across the globe, while others had perished during the Holocaust. “Like Hedwig Guth. There’s no Hedwig Guth in the diary. She’s Max’s aunt. By marriage.  Deported 1942 Theresienstadt. 1943 killed. Bergen Belsen.”

For years Andrea had dreamed about having a large extended family. In Berlin, she discovered they had existed, but secrets had kept them apart.

An Intimate Performance

The Berlin Diaries is an intimate two-person performance that drives home the complexity of issues surrounding families. Performed by one man and one woman, played by the extraordinarily talented David Greenspan and Rebecca S’Manga Frank, who together take on the roles of 14 different characters. Throughout the performance, the actors alternate, switching roles, providing an interesting fluidity, across gender, character, and time, a provocative way to suggest that this story extends beyond the set, and these actors, and applies to all families.

The Cohnreich family was torn apart by the Holocaust. Relatives scattered, and in 1939 Max arrived in New York City. The diary became Andrea’s cipher. It provided the location of the grave of Jacoby Cohnreich in the Weissensee cemetery of Berlin, which led to the discovery of verschollen, lost, relatives.

At first, Andrea was shaken by the number of relatives lost during the Holocaust, until she shifted focus and began looking for survivors. We hope that she was successful in establishing ties by corresponding with distant cousins.

Powerful Message

This contemporary drama about the search for family, makes us question the fragmented history of the Jewish diaspora. Before the war in Berlin the Cohnreichs were close-knit “We families visited always each other at least once a week as we lived quite close to one another.“ Max wrote, “When I was 13 years old and became a Bar-Mitzvah we had guests of over 100 people from the family and we all gathered on this day in Berlin, in the Koenig von Portugal hotel in the Burgstraße 12.”

But the guilt for surviving, and leaving others behind created a gap, a loss, left unsaid for generations, until the diary. Yes, there were living relatives who would have known, including Aunt Claire, but she remained silent. Max tried to set things right in his Last Will and Testament writing “It would be very nice if all my beloved ones would meet on my birthday anniversaries and one of my grandchildren would read a chapter from my diary.” This comes as almost a footnote, too little and too late. Especially as his Will was discovered among reparation documents filed in Germany.

Andrea tries to rationalize his actions saying, “He who forgets what he cannot change is happy.”

At the cemetery in Berlin, they say “May the suffering of each generation decrease.” It is our hope that families learn their truth, take time to mend relationships, grieve, and grow together. Forgetting a tragedy does not prevent it from reoccurring, nor does it promote healing.

Prayer for Healing

The Berlin Diaries provides hope, that the guilt will be forgiven, and families will be united. Especially at a time when the world is turning its back on the Jews, it is important that we proudly connect rather than feeling “like we have no one”.

*****

Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) to see the play, show, film, book, or exhibit being reviewed. 

The Berlin Diaries received a 4 Challah rating

Playing at 59E59 from October 08 – October 28, 2023

Runtime: 90 minutes