Let's Break Out! The Play

Leokadia Justman’s (1922–2022) incredible story of survival takes the stage. Her fate as a Polish Jew is the focus of a dramatization commissioned specifically for the Tyrolean State Theater. Leokadia, who instinctively knows when to follow her gut, and her best friend, the “fantastic” Marysia, escaped the Warsaw Ghetto, made their way to Innsbruck, worked under false identities, were betrayed, and ultimately imprisoned. A spectacular escape from the Innsbruck police prison, with helpers who risked their lives in the process, is the climax of this still far too little-known “undercover” heroine’s journey during World War II in Tyrol. Impressive and read like a thriller, the female perspective on the brutal persecution allows us to experience the world of all the characters involved with raw honesty and great passion. This first literary testimony by a Holocaust survivor in Innsbruck forms the basis for a moving, sensational stage adventure that, following in the footsteps of Anne Frank’s diary, represents another important feminist voice of that era. It leaves us breathless, especially today, when it comes to democracy and human rights.

When you look back one day, 
remember the gray, bleak postwar period, 
the spiritual lethargy,
and remember those words, 
that faith in life is the greatest strength,
that even in moments of defeat and failure 
can provide support and become the sum of 
what we commonly call ‘happiness.’
L. Justman, Insb. 26 Nov. 1945 

 

In cooperation with the University of Innsbruck