Kindness – A Legacy of the Holocaust

This new verbatim play is based on the testimony of Hungarian Holocaust survivor Susan Pollack MBE, aged only thirteen when she was sent to the notorious Auschwitz -Birkenau in the summer of 1944. Interwoven with complementary narratives and layered with Holocaust history, this is a powerful new piece for Drama and History teachers alike.

Commissioned by Europe’s only specialist Holocaust theatre in education company, Kindness offers tremendous challenge to Drama students. It allows the stories of survivors, as well as the voices of some of the millions more who did not survive, to not be lost as living memory increasingly becomes becomes a history that must never be forgotten.

“I sincerely felt very moved and grateful that the play so accurately represented my experiences, and the mood and political situation of the time is so accurately shown. It is most wonderful and I give you my legacy most willingly. Thank you so much.” Susan Pollack MBE

Duration: 60 minutes approximately

Cast: 21 female / male, or 2 female and 2 male with multiroling

Suitable for: Key Stage 3/4, BTEC, GCSE, A Level

After twenty years as a Head of Drama, advisor and examiner, Cate Hollis left full time teaching to found Voices of the Holocaust. As the only specialist Holocaust theatre in education company, grounded in years of research and the collective informed advice and wisdom of educators and academics from all over the world, Voices has toured the UK, performed at the European Parliament and received standing ovations at the International Jewish Theatre Awards. Cate has been nominated for Pride of Britain, National Diversity and NICE (excellence in cultural innovation) awards.

Voices began with the original play Butterflies devised / written by Cate and a dedicated team of young actors which was based on the story of Hana Brady, first explored by Cate at a National Drama conference with renowned Professor Belarie Zatzman from Toronto University. It led to further study, a number of postgraduate qualifications including a Masters from Warwick University and meeting numerous inspirational survivors and educators who persuaded Cate to change direction and dedicate her professional life to telling the stories that needed to be told.

Cate lives in Milton Keynes with her very patient partner, a usually patient seven-year-old and an impatient house bunny who has a tendency to chew through her laptop cable and slow her down when she is working from home. In her spare time she volunteers at a homeless shelter when she is not cooking in her kitchen or becoming something of an expert in space and dinosaurs thanks to a small boy. In the year of Covid, Cate has been loving working as a support worker for adults with learning disabilities.