The testimonies of those who perished in, those who survived and those who perpetrated the Holocaust, read by Harold Pinter, Ruth Rosen & Harry Ariel and directed by Derek Wax.

"As we approach and then pass the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht in November 2013, remembering a night when violence against the Jewish people was unleashed in German lands on an unprecedented scale in a coordinated and comprehensive rampage, we felt it important to make available as an educational resource the programme of testimonies that we presented 25 years ago in 1988, at the Southbank Centre. It was part of the first academic conference on the Holocaust – an endeavour to understand the enormity of what had happened to the Jewish people during the years 1939 to 1945.

On 9–10 November 1938, Jewish businesses were smashed and more than 1000 synagogues were set on fire and destroyed. Jews were chased and beaten up in the streets. It was the precursor of what became during the Second World War, the industrialised terrorising, imprisoning and killing of six million Jews, as well as others, in the concentration camps and death camps created by the Nazis for their so called ‘Final Solution’ to their ‘Jewish problem’.

The 24 pieces of testimony – not only of victims and survivors, but also of the perpetrators – are powerful reminders of what happens when a society falls victim to its baser instincts. It is hoped that these readings and scripts will inspire a new generation to act differently."
Geraldine Auerbach MBE, Ben Helfgott MBE

"‘Speak the Unspeakable’ at the Purcell Room, was one of the most moving and haunting of all the events associated with the holocaust conference ‘Remembering for the Future’. Three Jewish voices, those of playwright Harold Pinter, actress Ruth Rosen and the quite extraordinary Polish-born Yiddish actor Harry Ariel, read from some of the most painful words ever written: documents and eyewitness accounts of the Shoah.

In the darkened, near-silence of the auditorium, the poetry of Paul Celan, Elie Wiesel and Primo Levi mingled with harrowing fragments of survivor testimony and icy shards of SS bureaucratic documents. The effect was beyond words. Several people in the audience, overwhelmed, left early in tears."
David Winner, Jewish Chronicle, 29th July 1988

Contents:
1. “NONE OF YOU WILL BE LEFT TO BEAR WITNESS ...”
Words of the SS, Quoted by Simon Wiesenthal / Primo Levi
[Read by Harold Pinter]

2. “DEAR FINDER, SEARCH EVERYWHERE ...”
Salmen Gradowski
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

3. TESTIMONY FROM BABI YAR
Watchman of the Jewish Cemetery
[Read by Harold Pinter]

4. TESTIMONY FROM CHELMNO
Yakov Grojanowski
[Read by Harry Ariel]

5. ‘GEHEIME REICHSSACHE: CHANGES FOR VEHICLES.' Just.
[Read by Harold Pinter]

6. MINUTES FROM THE WANNSEE CONFERENCE
Adolf Eichmann
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

7. ‘RESETTLEMENT’ ORDER FOR THE WARSAW GHETTO
German Authorities
[Read by Harold Pinter]

8. TESTIMONY FROM BELZEC
Kurt Gerstein
[Read by Harold Pinter]

9. TESTIMONY FROM TREBLINKA
Jankiel Wiernik
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

10. DEPORTATION TO MAJDANEK
Samuel Pisar
[Read by Harry Ariel]

11. LAST TESTAMENT
Israel Lichtenstein
[Read by Harry Ariel]

12. THE JANOWSKA ROAD
Leon Weliczker
[Read by Harry Ariel/Harold Pinter/Ruth Rosen]

13. ‘DEATH FUGUE’
Paul Celan
[Read by Harold Pinter]

14. WARSAW DIARY
Janusz Korczak
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

15. DEPORTATION OF KORCZAK AND JEWISH CHILDREN’S HOME
Nahum Remba
[Read by Harry Ariel]

16. ‘NIGHT’
Elie Wiesel
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

17. ‘ANI MAAMIN’
Elie Wiesel
[Read by Harry Ariel]

18. THE STUTTHOFERS AT NEUMARK
Reska Weiss
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

19. ‘SHEMA’
Primo Levi
[Read by Harold Pinter]

20. ‘SHTARKER FUN EISN’
Leib Lerner. Read in Yiddish.
[Read by Harry Ariel]

21. NUMBERS KILLED IN NAZI DEATH CAMPS
[Read by Harold Pinter/Ruth Rosen/Harry Ariel]

22. ‘DEATH FUGUE’ (Refrain)
Paul Celan
[Read by Ruth Rosen]

23. “WE WILL BURY OUR MANUSCRIPTS ...”
Salmen Lewental
[Read by Harry Ariel]

24. “... WILL YOU BE ABLE TO VISUALIZE ...?”
Salmen Gradowski
[Read by Harold Pinter]

Total Playing Time: 79.03