Letters from Prague
A play about the lives of a family in Prague during the Holocaust
Left to right- Tomichek, Helga, Raya
Our story follows the Froehlich and Czerner family in the late 1930s. Irma Froehlich and Max Czerner got married in 1929. They went on to have three kids- the oldest being Helga, followed by Raya and Tomichek, who was only an infant at the time. They lived a comfortable and wealthy Jewish life in Prague.
In 1939, the Nazi’s invasion of Prague took over the Froehlichs' neighborhood. Nazi's moved in right across the street, plastering swastikas on every nearby building. With fear of what would come next, they decided they could no longer stay in Prague. Max made a deal with a German officer that in exchange for the family’s apartment, they could get five visas to the United States. When Max met with the officer, though, he was offered only three visas.
Considering how hard it was to obtain visas at the time, Irma and Max had to make the unimaginably difficult decision of whom to bring to the US and who to leave in Prague with Irma’s mother and brother, Paula and Erwin Froehlich. In May of 1939, Max, Irma, and Tomichek left Prague to start their new life in the States. In this play, we hear letters written from the family that had stayed in Prague to those who had gotten out.
Left to right- Raya, Helga
Left to right- Raya, Helga, Irma, Max