Holocaust Memorial
from Pixabay
Holocaust Memorial
from Pixabay
A Play In One Scene
By Father John R. Green
Copyright © by John R. Green
Shown with his blessing
(View Bishop Burt's tribute letter
View Dave Watts' tribute letter)
(In Order Of Their Appearance)
Rabbi Joel Simon
Winifred Dietrich
Herman Hoffman
Helga Heinz
Pastor Otto Schurz
Carola Ludwig
With the exception of Carola Ludwig, all of the above are survivors of Nazi concentration camps. Carola is thirty five years old while the other characters are in their early middle age.
A basement room in the Downtown College Club
Seven P.M. - Christmas Eve - 1955
SETTING: A plainly furnished room in the basement of the Downtown College Club. Two sturdy cushioned chairs occupy near left front wall and left center wall while two similar chairs are situated directly opposite at right wall of room. The entrance to room is at the center of rear wall to room.
AT RISE: Rabbi Simon enters room and pauses to survey the empty enclosure.
RABBI SIMON (smiling and puzzled) Well, I hardly expected to be the first arrival here tonight. (walks to center of room) I wonder why my dear friend, Pastor Schurz, wants me to be with Christians who are celebrating Christmas this evening, while I should be and want to be participating in the festivities of Hanukkah? (pause, walks to front of room)
All who are assembling here are survivors of German concentration camps and are now living in America, the land of the free and blessed by God. All but myself are gentile survivors. There are many who are under the impression that only Jews suffered and died in the Holocaust. But the concentration camps imprisoned many many gentiles. Winifred Dietrich who will be here tonight was a school teacher who refused to instill Nazism in her German pupils. Herman Hoffman who is coming this evening was the editor of a newspaper that denounced the evils of Nazism and likewise appearing in this room will be Helga Heinz who as an actress appeared in plays that featured opposition to Adolf Hitler.
Yes, I am a survivor of Nazi oppression. (raised his voice and utters forcefully) I marvel at my survival. If I am at the center of a raging forest fire where a tornado is touching down and some hideous man is beating me with an ax, how can I survive? Yet the odds of surviving a concentration camp catastrophe are no less formidable. (pause, lowers his head in agony and pounds his heart with his fists, and then returns to his prior posture ) Why did I survive? Well, I wanted to survive. "Don't all concentration camp prisoners want to survive?" I am asked. (shaking his head negatively and vigorously) No! No! Ten thousand times No! There were many, many who wished that death would end their hellish suffering, a suffering which overwhelms human imagination. Some succeeded in doing so.
My Nazi captors unintentionally assisted me toward surviving. They drafted me to play and sing with the concentration camp's orchestra. (smiling grimly) Oh yes, each concentration camp had its orchestra composed of camp prisoners. Had I refused to perform I would have been executed, and (raising his voice in emphatic assertion) I determined to do all in my power to see that a future Holocaust does not occur! (pause, walks about a little and then returns to front center of room) So we in the orchestra performed. We played marching music as newly arrived prisoners entered camp (voice choking with emotion) and were separated from one another - some to work detail and some to gassing chambers, the crematorium, children wrenched from their parents and husbands yanked from their spouses. (pause, regains his composure)
We played classical music as requested for the enjoyment of camp officers. Their love for Wagner and Beethoven did not diminish their cruelty and bestiality one iota. Then we performed to welcome and entertain prominent people in an attempt to convince them that what they had heard about atrocity in concentration camps was untrue. Of course, during the visitation all signs of cruelty and persecution were silenced and starving and malnourished prisoners received some extra rations. Consequently, the visitors went from the camp singing praises of the camp officers and telling many others of pleasant conditions in the camp. It marked the greatest cover-up in human history. (pause, shakes his head in sorrow)
I shall now meditate upon my mission to prevent future Holocausts as I await the arrival of my fellow survivors and Pastor Scours. (He seats himself in chair at right center of room, facing the wall and is oblivious to the arrival and presence of other survivors until later when he is summoned by Pastor Schurz. Enter Winifred Dietrich who pauses in doorway to survey room and Rabbi Simon)
WINIFRED (eying Rabbi Simon warmly and tenderly) Oh dear Rabbi Simon, why are you here tonight? Why aren't you celebrating Hanukkah? (shakes her head in loving wonderment) Well, you are a survivor and Pastor Schurz wants survivors here this Christmas Eve, but (shaking her head) I don't know why. (Walks to the center of the room) Why isn't Pastor Schurz here now? (shakes her head in distress) I hope he is coming soon. (passionately) I need to be home and alone on Christmas Eve - alone with my agony.
I want to hear no carols. I am haunted by the carols I played with the Nazi orchestra! I haven't played or sung a carol or any other music since leaving the camp and I never will! My remembrance of those tragic grief stricken faces looking so hopelessly toward me in the orchestra as they marched toward their deaths in the crematorium give me nightmares both night and day!
Yes, we musicians live well and we survived. I feel so dreadfully guilty. It seems that I am hearing those carols from the camp at this very moment. They haunt me. (carol music is heard in the background beyond room) (tearfully and passionately while pounding her breast) I should have refused to perform. I should have joined the other prisoners in death! I would now be in peace!
(listens intensely as Haydn's "Austria" is coming from beyond the room) There it is! Haydn's "Austria" which is subjected to the lyrics of a German national song. I used to hear it played to the lyrics of John Newton's "Glorious Thing Are Spoken Zion City of Our God"! I thrilled to that hymn. (burying her face in her hands) I feel no longer to be in the Image of God! (pause, as she becomes quiet and walks to the front center of room)
I shall now sit in my misery awaiting the precious Pastor Schurs, but I cannot wait indefinitely. I must soon depart. (she seats herself in chair opposite Rabbi Simon facing left wall of room, while quivering in agony. Enter Herman Hoffman who gazes in amusement upon Rabbi Simon and upon Winifred with sorrow and resignation)
HERMAN (eyeing Rabbi Simon) Treasured friend Rabbi Simon you are the last person I expected to see here tonight, although you are an esteemed and honored survivor. (gazes toward Winifred) Dear tragic Winifred, though you escaped death, you will likely never be happy and joyful again. I wonder why you didn't commit suicide in camp and likewise why you haven't ended your agony in the land of the free? (pause and walks to center of room)
Well, this is the night of the Prince of Peace - "Peace on Earth and Good Will Towards Men." (breathing deeply and shaking his head in misery) I neither have peace in my heart nor good will towards men tonight. God is love, a truth manifested in Jesus, but hate, not love, dominates my spirit. (points finger towards Winifred) She blames herself for her misery but I avow hatred and vengeance of the architects of the Holocaust.
(Raising his voice in thunderous avowing) As Rabbi Simon trumpets against more Holocausts, I shall seek out and destroy the perpetrators of the concentration camp horror and catastrophe. I held nothing but contempt for my Nazi captors as I performed with their demonic orchestra. Well, I am no longer singing or playing music - my camp performance haunts me night and day. But they will know to their consternation and grief the fulfillment of my wrath toward them! (pause, throws his clinched fists upward; glances momentarily toward Rabbi Simon and Winifred, and then toward the entrance door)
Well, I thought I had surmised what Pastor Schurz wants with us tonight but now I am not sure. At any rate, I shall sit with the others until he appears, and he will appear! (seats himself in chair near front wall of room with chair facing toward the wall, and he is oblivious to all entering the room until summoned by Pastor Schurz. Enter Helga Heinz who is momentarily startled to see occupants of room seated with their faces toward wall, and then gazes lovingly upon Rabbi Simon)
HELGA (smiling jovially) Oh wonderful Rabbi Simon, has Hanukkah been postponed? Well, we couldn't be more blessed than by having such a dear survivor as you! (walks to center of room) It is good that God is in his glory, but the world is in disarray! Rabbi Simon is laboring to insure that the Holocaust doesn't happen again but his task is gigantic. There are people in every nook and cranny of planet Earth who would welcome another Holocaust.
(Thundering) Racial and ethnic bias, hatred and arrogance haunt and threaten devastation upon wide spread populations! (gritting with outrage) It wasn't simply the sadistic, bestial and arrogant people who by themselves were the architects of the Holocaust; the foundation for the Holocaust was also forged by people who hail from the respectable ranks of professional, industrial, business and labor endeavor! (pause until breathing calmly) Who would have thought that the highly cultured, scientific minded and educational stature of the people of Germany would create and subscribe to the evils of Nazism?
(Walks about in anger and distress; lowers her voice while choking with grief) And why did civilized democratic and richly cultured nations of the world contribute to the Holocaust by refusing to admit refugees who were fleeing from the scourge of Nazism?
Our beloved adopted United States barred the Jewish victims aboard the ship, St. Louis, from entering the safety of our boarders; thus insuring their perishing in the inferno of the Holocaust.
There were refugees aboard the St. Louis who held valid passports for entering Cuba, but our neighbor nation to the South refused to honor them.
England and France, in fact all nations, closed their doors to fleeing refugees, Jewish and non-Jewish. They were especially merciless toward the Jews, refusing to permit them to pioneer vast uninhabited areas of their countries.
(Thundering) And to top it, all of those few survivors of Hitler's hell were forced to return and rebuild their native countries where they were still hated and not wanted!
Look about you nations under the judgment of God: anti-Semitism is thriving within your borders! (Lowers her head and in tears pounds her chest with her hands; then regains her composure.)
Obviously, I am not at peace with the world tonight. The music of Christmas has a hollow ring for me. I sing no more and my instrument lies in idle desperation. Yes, I survived the Holocaust, but not with joy; not with jubilation. I pray perhaps that Pastor Schurz can ease my discomfort a little. I shall try to dwell on this until I greet him. (seats herself in chair opposite Herman at right front wall of room, facing the wall, oblivious to other occupants of room until summoned by Pastor Schurz. Enter Pastor Schurz who lovingly gazes upon each of his guest survivors)
PASTOR SCHULTZ Well, I too am a survivor of a concentration camp. I did not survive as a musician. My musical talents and skills are nil. I believe I survived, as did many, by outwitting and out-thinking the persecuting officers of the camp, and by the grace of God. I now lead a relatively normal life. Had I been a performing singer or instrumentalist in camp, I believe I would continue to do likewise now.
(Walks to the side of Rabbi Simon who in deep meditation is unaware of his presence) Now my dear Rabbi, colleague and friend, I wish you all the joy of Hanukkah, but I sorely need your wisdom, compassion and experience here tonight. Our years together are highly treasured by me!
(Walks to the side of Winifred who in deep hurt does not recognize his presence) Oh precious Winifred, those Nazi camp officers never tormented you like you are punishing yourself. Our Lord wills abundant life for you, but you are defeating the spirit to live. Hopefully with the help of God we can restore this spirit to you this Christmas eve.
(Walks to the side of Herman who in his angry anguish fails to note his presence) Ah Herman, you survived in body but not in mind and spirit. The Nazis have succeeded in bringing death to you. Your heart, soul and mind are obsessed with hatred for the concentration camp persecutors. We shall endeavor to direct your angry emotions into more constructive channels tonight.
(Walks to the side of Helga who though prepared to welcome his coming is not in her despair aware of his presence) And now dear Helga, while we are only too well aware of the sins and evils of this world, we hope that in the course of this evening you shall become conscious of it still being God's world, which at creation he called "good" and that it is manifesting some of this goodness.
(Pastor Schurz walks to center of room and robustly claps his hands. The somewhat startled survivors slowly and laboriously arouse themselves and then hasten with tears and physical embrace to greet one another and Pastor Schurz motions for them to seat themselves in chairs at same locations but facing the center aisle of room. Pastor Schurz smiling warmly.)
I am sorry to be late in joining you tonight. I was well on my way here when it suddenly dawned upon me that I had not prayed for my mission with you; so I interrupted my journey to do so.
HELGA (smiling incredulously) You mean that you pray before facing each event in you life?
PASTOR SCHURZ (smiling happily and nodding his head in affirmation) That I do! I wouldn't dream of not so doing. ( Helga shakes her head in amazement.)
HERMAN (emphatically) I don't pray. There is no place in my life for prayer.
PASTOR SCHURZ (smiling sorrowfully) Where hatred predominates God is absent. Need I remind you dear friend Herman that God is love.
HERMAN Yes, God is love, but I am Herman Hoffman (smiling sadly) I assume you are all aware of the vast difference.
HELGA I pray upon arising in the morning and when I retire at night. Events and happenings of the day come too rapidly and crowded to be prayed about.
PASTOR SCHURZ Life is often hectic and demanding as I know your life is at times but, precious Helga, didn't Jesus and the Prophets constantly experience this phenomenon and yet prayed at the time they were facing it with eternally glorious results? (pause breathes deeply) When we lose our faith in the world and its human inhabitants, we lose at least some of our capacity to have faith in communicating with God.
WINIFRED I am constantly praying, but I fear it doesn't do much good.
PASTOR SCHURZ (tenderly and soothing) When we lose faith in ourselves, we find it difficult to experience faith in the love and mercy of God. (walks to side of Winifred) And now dear survivor Winifred, what seems so special, or what is so strange about you that you cannot or do not forgive yourself?
WINIFRED The Nazi concentration camp officers were inhumane and devilish, but my performance gave them comfort and entertainment.
PASTOR SCHURZ Well, Rabbi Simon, do you feel guilty for having performed with the Nazi orchestra?
RABBI SIMON (forcefully) Not at All! Not at all! And I see no reason for Winifred to feel guilty.
WINIFRED But I could have refused to perform even though I would be put to death for not performing.
RABBI SIMON My avowed purpose in this mortal life is to help prevent a future Holocaust, and my remaining alive by performing for the Nazis far outweighs whatever would have been accomplished had I refused to perform and was executed.
WINIFRED (desperately) But there is more to it than I have revealed. (pause, breathes deeply and painfully) I not only performed, I gloried in my participation with the orchestra. I thrilled to the praises which the Nazis heaped upon me following each performance, and I played my heart out for them. (shaking her head and quivering in agony) I rationalized that after all the Nazis being human needed human comfort and inspiration! I even went so far as to find myself believing that my God who has blessed me with musical talent wanted me to utilize it lovingly everywhere and in every situation and circumstance even in which I experienced pangs of guilt and anxiety about my motivation and performance actions. (sobbing) Then I was told that I had committed the unpardonable sin - blasphemy against the Holy Ghost!
PASTOR SCHURZ (soothing, touching Winifred upon the shoulder and laughing gently) No, Winifred. No! No! No! You have not committed the unpardonable sin. Those who commit the unpardonable sin have no guilt feelings about what they are doing. The unpardonable sin occurs when one determines that what is good is evil and what is evil is good. The Nazis did not feel guilty in calling peace, freedom, brotherhood and mercy evil and war, hatred, racial persecutions and human exploitation good.
WINIFRED (relieved but perplexed) But why is blasphemy a sin against the Holy Ghost?
PASTOR SCHURZ Because it is the Holy Ghost who leads us in to all truth and goodness. But when we reject the guidance and strengthening of the Holy Ghost and substitute our own version of the truth and goodness we sin against the Holy Ghost.
WINIFRED But I thought that God will forgive all sins and sinners?
PASTOR SCHURZ Yes, if they are penitent. But those who commit the unpardonable sin do not repent. Can you imagine the Nazis repenting the horror of the Holocaust?
WINIFRED (smiling in relief) Well, I am grateful for your comforting explanation, but I am still experiencing difficulty in forgiving myself for having associated with the evil of the Nazism.
PASTOR SCHURZ (pause, walking about his head lowered in thought and then returns to the side of Winifred) Did not St. Paul forgive himself?
WINIFRED What do you mean?
PASTOR SCHURZ For having persecuted the Christians. (forcefully) Do you believe that St. Paul's persecution of the Christians was any less cruel that Hitler's persecution of the Jews?
WINIFRED (dazed) But didn't Paul believe that in assaulting the Christians he was doing the will of God?
PASTOR SCHURZ Well, so did Adolf Hitler in his persecution of the Jews. (looking toward Rabbi Simon) Did he not my dear Rabbi?
RABBI SIMON (sorrowfully) Adolf Hitler claimed that in his exterminating of the Jews he was finishing a work begun by Jesus; he therefore asserted that he was doing the will of God. Of course, he was wrong, dreadfully wrong in his belief. Jesus was a Jew, and he loved the Jews.
PASTOR SCHURZ And Paul confessed that he was the chief of sinners because he persecuted the Church of God. (pause, searches countenance of Winifred) Now if Paul could forgive himself why cannot Winifred Dietrich forgive herself? After all, God could not have forgiven Paul had Paul not forgiven himself. But he wanted to forgive Paul in order that Paul would become the great missionary apostle to the Gentiles. And God wants to forgive you, Winifred, in order that your great musical gifts can bring joy, comfort and inspiration to human kind.
WINIFRED I want forgiveness by self and God, but I need to reflect upon what is taking place in my life this evening.
PASTOR SCHURZ (nodding affirmatively) Of course, you do. We shall return to you in good time. (touches her shoulder and then slowly walks to the side of Herman) Just as Winifred has been punishing herself through self-condemnation, you are destroying you life through hatred of those who operated the concentration camps.
HERMAN (seething with anger) You haunt me, Pastor Schurz, through you love for me, and I am haunted through my love for you. I simply don't understand why you object to my hatred of the Nazis, especially after the way they slaughtered your wife and children?
PASTOR SCHURZ (painfully, tenderly) Following the deaths of my dear wife and precious children, my angry rage toward the Nazis was no less than yours is at the present time. (pause, walks about a little and returns to side of Herman) I had to work through my feelings, attitudes and relationship to my Lord before I became reconciled to manifesting the love and mercy of Christ in my life. Had I remained in my hatred I would have become like the Nazis. I want to see God's reign in the world - not the domination of the Nazis.
RABBI SIMON (exulting, beaming) Gloriously spoken, Pastor Schurz! Yes, radiantly voiced!
HERMAN (twisting in frustration) And you, dear Rabbi, you and your people suffered more horribly and grievously than any of the Holocaust victims - your race nearly vanquished from the earth; yet, you seek not revenge nor hostility upon your enemies. (twisting in frustration) Why? Why? Oh, why?
RABBI SIMON I determined, dear Herman, not to let the Nazis set the coarse of my life. Their objective during the Holocaust was to make me suffer in mind, body and spirit. If my heart and mind are consumed with hatred and hostility, they have succeeded in making me suffer in spirit.
HERMAN (stunned) But supposing this is true, does it mean that you believed that the Nazis shouldn't be held accountable for their devilish atrocities?
RABBI SIMON They are to be held accountable!
HERMAN (stunned, perplexed) But it has been my understanding when you forgive someone he is not to be punished; there is to be no revenge?
RABBI SIMON This is true providing he is repentant. If he is not repentant, forgiveness will mean nothing to him or society.
HERMAN Are you saying that the non-repentant should be punished?
RABBI SIMON If they are not repentant, they might continue with their offenses against society and they should not be permitted to do so.
HERMAN (triumphantly) That is precisely what I am trying to do.
RABBI SIMON But what is your motive for so doing?
HERMAN (triumphantly) What difference does that make?
PASTOR SCHURZ It is that Rabbi Simon's motive for stopping the non-repentant is to keep the Holocaust from happening again, but your motive is for a revenge fueled by hatred.
HERMAN (frustrated) But supposing I forgive them but the governments of the world do not?
RABBI SIMON Governments are ordained by God to dispense justice. I have no problem with that, but I must not permit myself to indulge in in great joy and personal satisfaction at their being punished by the government; rather I should sorrow that the offenders acted in such a way as to bring punishment upon themselves; that they are enemies of those who champion human welfare.
HERMAN (dazed) Well, even though the government executes them and justice is served, I find it most difficult not to rejoice and experience exhilaration. I know this is revenge, but so be it.
PASTOR SCHURZ How do you square this with your religion?.
HERMAN I consider myself to be a Christian, but I draw the line when it comes to forgiving those who commit the hideous actions of the Nazis. I regard forgiveness to be a personal matter, regardless of one's religion
PASTOR SCHURZ (smiling grimly) Some people view Christianity as a great smorgasbord or buffet from which they may choose which items they want and leave the others alone. But this doesn't set well with our Lord. After all, he could have chosen not to die for our sins, but in doing so he would not have been true to what he preached and taught and urged us to adhere to. (pause, walks about a little, shaking his head in frustration and returns to the side of Herman, patting him briefly on his shoulder.) Herman, I am going to ask you what may seem to be a stupid question, but have you ever sinned?
HERMAN (laughing with derision) Who hasn't?
PASTOR SCHURZ And what does your sinning do to God? Does it harm him?
HERMAN (exasperated) Certainly it does! What's your point?
PASTOR SCHURZ (soothing, tenderly) How much harm?
HERMAN I suppose that depends on what sin is commited.
PASTOR SCHURZ You need to realize that every sin you may commit, regardless of how large or small the sin may be, hurts God more than any sin the Nazis have inflicted upon you, God is Holy. Sin is anathema to him. He is allergic to sin!
HERMAN (amazed, troubled) I saw three Nazi concentration camp officers take many babies out of the arms of their mothers and throw them into a huge fire. One of the officers would smash the babies heads before throwing them into the inferno; the other two officers threw them alive in the raging fire and laughed and laughed while doing so. Do you really mean that stealing a plaid jacket hurts God more than the Nazi officers hurt those babies?
PASTOR SCHURZ With all my heart and soul and mind I do! I cannot begin to describe the enormity of the hurt experienced by God through the sinning of those concentration camp officers. (pause) Now what does God do about our sins?
HERMAN He forgives them if we repent.
PASTOR SCHURZ Doesn't it then follow that we forgive others of their sins against us?
HERMAN (body shaking) Yes it does. But I am dreadfully torn within myself. I need to reflect upon what is happening to me.
PASTOR SCHURZ Very good! We shall return to you a little later on (Herman bows his head and his body continues to shake as he dwells upon his fresh insight. Pastor Schurz walks to side of Helga and momentarily places his hand on her shoulder.) We share your indignation and righteous anger regarding the failure of nations and peoples to save those who suffered and perished during the Holocaust, but you may have never heard of a man named Schlinder who saved thousands of Jews from extermination. Not many are aware of his glorious and merciful heroism in this year of our Lord 1955, but I predict that his name will become a household word in times to come. And there were many others who rescued Jews from the Nazis at the risk of loosing their own lives. And while the nations did not do all they should have done to provide save havens for those fleeing from the Nazi terror, some did admit many refugees during the war, paticularly refugees from our native Germany. Albert Einstein who was welcomed to America has been a tremendous asset to our adopted nation and the entire world.
HELGA Perhaps I haven't been too charitable, but Jesus said that it hasn't entered the hearts and minds of people what Heaven is like, and I say that it hasn't entered the hearts and minds of countless people what kind of a hell the concentration camps were. The diabolical and sadistic treatment and administration of the Nazis seems beyond the comprehension of those who didn't experience the Holocaust, and I remain sorely troubled by those forces at work here in America and throughout the world who could produce and even welcome another Holocaust. There is raging racism, there is deadly ethnic persecution, there are super patriots who claim to be protecting democracy while in reality they are advancing the cause of fascism; I could go on and on!
PASTOR SCHURZ (slowly) Eleanor Roosevelt counseled that it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness; the Psalmist cries, "Oh send out thy light and thy truth, let them lead me to thy holy hill and to thy dwelling"; Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." Now why not our dear Helga join with Rabbi Simon and others who are striving to advance the truth which will make for a free and peaceful world?
HELGA (shaking her head in agonizing conflict) How I long to be associated with Rabbi Simon and other humanitarian souls, but I need time to think and feel through some matters. (pause) I hope all of us can sing again, and I want to turn my life around.
PASTOR SCHURZ Very well! We shall be with you a little later on. Now while you are examining and processing the world within you, I have Carola awaiting outside tonight, and I am confident that her music will both comfort and inspire you. (hearty murmurs of appoval from the group) I now shall bring her in. (goes from room and returns with Carola whom he escorts to front center of room where she receives a cordial greeting of smiling and hand waving from the group)
RABBI SIMON (to Pastor Schurz) Although I have much admiration for Carola and her music, I now need to be with my Hanukka! (Pastor Schurz, Carola, and the group wave and extend exclamations of "Happy Hanukka" to the departing Rabbi Simon.)
CAROLA (smiling warmly to the group) I hope you will like my rendition of "Jesu Bambino." (group members listen enraptured to Carola's singing while simultaneously their faces and bodies reflect the inner tension and conflict they are experiencing. Pastor Schurz beams with obvious delight to the beauty of "Jesu Bambino" in song and background musical accompaniment.)
PASTOR SCHURZ (observing the cheer and solace evidenced by group at Carola's singing and still their seeming unreadiness to verbalize their resolvinig progress to group) Would your like another selection by Carola? (group members wave their hands in enthusiastic affirmation)
CAROLA (gazing lovingly upon group) What would you like for me to sing?
WINIFRED "O Holy Night!" (other group members nod their heads in concert agreement, and Carola proceeds to vocalize the requested solo to the accompaniment of background music. As the solo progresses the group members become relaxed in facial and bodily expression and radiantly and rapturously thrill to the singing.)
PASTOR SCHURZ (at conclusion of solo embraces Carola's hands with those of his own) Our gratitude is great for your presence and strenghthening tonight, our dear Carola! (to group members) I hope you are now prepared to order your lives in the spirit of Christ.
WINIFRED (rising from her chair, breathing deeply, pausing for a moment) I feel the spirit within me that I am truly a child of God, that I am made in the image of God, and I am at last and once more (voice rising with joy) at peace with myself, God and the world! Why not sing again, Winifred, the spirit is calling to me? And my heart is crying to sing to the praise and glory of God and to the joy and merriment of all people! (She happily and tearfully embraces Pastor Schurz and then returns to her chair but remains standing.)
HELGA (rising from her chair in triumphant posture with her face wreathed with smiling) A voice within me cries, "Helga you are now at one with the world! Sing to the World! Sing to Christ! (pause, exhilirating) I trust that my singing voice is alive again; that it has returned from the dead. (she embraces Pastor Schurz and then returns to her chair but remains standing.)
HERMAN (sitting with his head slightly bowed) Several months ago I seemed ready to sing; that hatred and vengeance were dead within me, then painfully I recalled that I had been informed on my way to this meeting that the father of my good friend, Carola, had been an officer in one of the concentration camps. (in anguish) What should I do? (rising from his chair) I was told that he tried to treat all prisoners humanely, still he was an officer. (Carola in tears starts to retreat from the room but is restrained from doing so by Pastor Schurz) What should I do?
HELGA (warmly but forcefully) Forget about it, Herman. Let your renewed life in Christ take over, and it has come close to doing so this Christmas Eve!
WINIFRED Yes, forget that you ever heard such a revelation! Carola's father has shown much compassion toward suffering humanity in this very city of ours, and he is now gravely ill and wants to be at peace with everyone.
PASTOR SCHURZ (smiling tenderly upon Herman) You needed to discharge the very last smattering of ill will from your heart which I believe you have now accomplished. (to group members) Shall you now celebrate your renewed joy in Christ with a return of your great talents which God had given you for the joy and inspiration of all peoples? (group members slowly assemble themselves facing frontward with Carola in their midst) Why not sing that beloved carol which originated and was first played and sung in our native Germany? Carola will sing with you. (group members begin to sing "Silent Night, Holy Night" but can't quite mould it together.)
CAROLA Why not let me sing something which may make it more accomodating to your singing? (nods of happy approval and relief from group) I will sing Mozart's "Alleuia" to the joy of Christmas Eve. (As she sings an intense desire to sing eminates from group members and at the conclusion of the "Alleuia" they sing "Silent Night, Holy Night." As this carol proceeds they embrace one another, Pastor Schurz and Carola, the latter receiving a tearful embrace from Herman and walk together from the room - background music accompanying the singing.)
THE END