The Star On My Heart
By Angela Miloro-Hansen, based on the memoirs of Inge Auerbacher
Family Guide, written by Talashia Keim Yoder
The purpose of this Family Guide is to provide our audience with a way to come to the production better prepared to deal with the subject matter. This is written particularly for families of elementary-aged children, but is appropriate for use with people of all ages.
We often shy away from exposing children to serious subject matter in theater. It is important to approach subjects like the Holocaust with care and intentionality, but it is also important to help children learn about their world and learn to interact with it. A play like The Star on My Heart provides an opportunity to do this. This is a story of hope and healing, told through the eyes of a child. It is a true story. Knowing a story like Inge’s has the power to shape the way all of us view and interact with our world.
There are things in this play that are difficult to watch and hear. There are things children will understand, and things that will go over their heads—and that’s okay. This guide seeks to help your family prepare for those hard things.
We at Bethany believe that God is our hope, and throughout this guide, I have tried to identify some places where God (hope) shows up.
Background on the play
The Star On My Heart is the true story of Inge Auerbacher, one of the 137 (out of 17,000) children who survived the Terezin concentration camp. A few years ago, Inge began working with a playwright to put her story on the stage. Angela Miloro-Hansen based this play on Inge’s books and oral stories. We are one of the first theaters to present this play, and we have worked closely with both Inge and Angela throughout the process.
For children: This is a true story. All the characters are real people who really lived.
Inge’s story
Inge grew up in Kippenheim, Germany. She was six at the time of Kristallnacht, a night when the Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues, and rounded up Jewish men. Inge’s father was taken to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was treated horribly. He was released to come home, probably so that he would tell his story and strike fear into the Jewish people. Inge’s family moved to her grandparents’ home in Jebenhausen, Germany, a remote and tiny village that they hoped would offer them more protection.
For children: Inge grew up in Germany, loved by her parents and grandparents. Things got scary for her family when a man named Hitler became the ruler of Germany. Her family was Jewish, and Hitler and his Nazis didn’t like the Jews. They began doing mean things to the Jews, like hurting them, telling them they couldn’t go to school, not letting them have enough food to eat, and even not letting them go to the park.
Hope showed up: A family friend named Therese risked her life to bring food to the Auerbachers, remaining a loyal friend to them.
Inge’s family was called up for a transport, to be taken to Riga, Germany. Her parents were able to get themselves and Inge off of the transport, but her grandmother was taken, and was killed immediately. In 1942, Inge and her parents could no longer avoid the transport, and were taken to Terezin, near Prague, Czechoslovakia.
For children: Inge’s grandmother was taken away and died, and a while after that, Inge and her parents were taken to a place called Terezin.
Hope showed up: Without the quick-thinking and boldness of her parents, Inge would have had the same fate as her grandmother.
Many stories come out of Terezin, a unique camp. It was primarily a transit camp. People from all over occupied Europe came there before being taken to Auschwitz, where they often were immediately gassed. The Czech children had opportunities to learn and create there, and that story is told in many books and in the play “I Never Saw Another Butterfly.” This and many of the “good” things about Terezin were not available for German children like Inge. When people around the world started to be concerned about what was happening to the Jews, the Nazis made Terezin look like a resort town, bringing the Red Cross for a visit and even making a movie. Of course, everything was rehearsed and fake.
For children: Life was hard for Inge at Terezin. She didn’t have enough to eat (usually a day’s food was a piece of bread, a bowl of watery soup, and a potato). She was sick a lot, and even though there was a hospital, there wasn’t medicine to help her. It was crowded and dirty, and life was very, very hard.
Hope showed up: A woman named Mrs. Rinder helped Inge’s family find food and survive. Mrs. Rinder’s son Tommy and a Christian girl named Ruth became good friends to Inge.
Inge is still not sure how her family survived. Their friends were all transported to Auschwitz eventually, but somehow, Inge and her family were allowed to remain at Terezin. In May of 1945, they were liberated by the Russian army. They returned to Jebenhausen. Of the approximately 1,000 people who were taken from Inge’s home province, only 13 returned home. Inge and her parents were three of those. Because all their property had been taken from them during the war, they had to start over with their lives.
For children: The war finally ended. Inge and her family returned home, but life was still hard. Their home and all their things had been taken away from them before the war.
Hope showed up: Inge had a special doll, Marlene, that her grandmother had given her when she was two. Even though everything was taken from them, Inge somehow managed to keep Marlene. Talking to Marlene and caring for her helped Inge cope with everything that happened to her. Marlene is now in the National Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.
It was hard to make a fresh start, and hard to move on from the horrors of the war. So Inge and her parents moved to America when President Truman opened the doors for survivors. It was a difficult adjustment; the family had been well-to-do before the war, but in America the only work they could find was as domestic servants. Then Inge got sick with tuberculosis, which she had picked up at Terezin. She had to go and live in a hospital for three years, again feeling imprisoned and separated from her parents. This time, though, there was medicine, and the hospital was clean, and her parents were able to visit her.
For children: Inge’s family decided to move to New York City. Life was still hard, because they were learning English and it was hard to find jobs. Inge got sick with tuberculosis, and had to go live in a hospital for three years. All this time, she didn’t get to go to school - so she hadn’t gone to school since she was six!
Hope showed up: The people of Grasslands Hospital were good people, and Inge made many friends there. Inge’s father was able to start a textile business, and the family began to make their fresh start.
When she was finally well, Inge came home and began high school. After missing so many years of school, she somehow managed to finish high school in three years. She discovered a love for chemistry and, through encouragement of a special teacher, was accepted to Queens College.
For children: Inge worked very hard, did very well in school, and gradually made friends. After she graduated, she decided to go to Queens College.
Hope showed up: Mr. Ruchlis, Inge’s chemistry teacher, saw potential in her. He helped her find a path for her life.
After starting college, Inge’s tuberculosis flared up again. She was put on a new drug, streptomycin, which saved her life. But TB was a very feared disease at that time (compare it to how people felt about AIDS in the 1980’s). So she kept the nature of her illness a secret. When she would tell suitors that she was a TB survivor, they got scared and broke off the relationship. Inge found her path, though. She became a chemist, working in research and helping others.
For children: Inge got sick again, and this time there was a new medicine she could take. It saved her life. Inge became a chemist so she could help find more medicines to cure people.
Hope showed up: Year later, Inge was able to find Dr. Schatz, the chemist who discovered streptomycin. She was able to thank him, and their story has been made into a documentary.
When people started to try to deny the Holocaust in the 1980’s, Inge knew she needed to start telling her story. She published her first book, I Am a Star. She has published several other books since then. She now travels the world, telling her story and teaching people about tolerance and love.
For children: Inge decided to start telling her story. She wants children to know that everyone deserves love and respect, and she doesn’t want what happened to her to happen to anyone else.
Hope showed up: Because of Inge’s generosity and willingness to share her story, people like us have the opportunity to tell her story. She gives us a very personal way to look at what is happening around us today, and to decide that we, like Inge, will work to spread love, not hate.
Traumatic Moments in the Show
The following moments are ones you may want to prepare young children for.
- Kristallnacht: This comes early in the show, and is portrayed with lighting and sound effects. It will be intense and loud, with banging and glass shattering.
- First Transport: Inge’s grandmother will be taken away from her. It is not done very dramatically, but could be a trigger for people with separation anxiety.
- Roll Call: In Act II, the guards call everyone out to line up and be counted. There are sound effects of banging, and the guards shout a lot, making it a pretty intense scene. There is also a moment where a boy is dragged offstage, and a gunshot is heard.
Resources on Inge Auerbacher
http://www.butterfliesintheghetto.com/?p=71&
Website on Terezin that has a 5-part series on Inge. Great synopsis of her life story.
http://www.ingeauerbacher.com/
Inge’s website
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRzCt9BXcI
Interview with Inge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxwEv_-KQZA
Documentary about Inge’s journey to Terezin - and her revisiting it
https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn509079
Oral history for the US Holocaust Museum in DC - interview with Inge
Inge’s books:
I Am a Star
Beyond the Yellow Star to America
Running Against the Wind
Finding Dr. Schatz
Children of Terror
Introducing children to the Holocaust
Often when things aren’t going well for us, we look around for someone else to blame. Like when you bump your head, you feel like you have to get mad at someone. Well, when things aren’t going well for a whole country, sometimes the people of that country try to find a group of people to blame. That is what happened in Germany after World War I. Germany had lost the war, and the country was not doing well. Life was harder than people wanted it to be. Someone named Adolf Hitler started saying that it was the fault of the Jews. People started to believe him, and soon, he was put in charge of the country. He and the people who followed him got to make the rules, and they decided that they wanted everyone in Germany to look and sound the same. Jews, Gypsies, people of color, people who were handicapped, and people who were homosexual were persecuted. Many were sent to places called concentration camps, where they were starved, made to work very hard, and even killed. It was a very, very sad time, and many people lost their families.
Visit the National Holocaust Museum website for a great booklist for introducing children to the Holocaust.
Discussion Questions
- When you watched the play, who were the helpers? Who gave Inge and her family hope?
- How did you feel during the play? What made you laugh? What made you feel sad, angry, frightened, or happy?
- Inge and her family were often afraid. Do you think there are people in our world, and in our community, who feel afraid?
- Inge and her family weren’t allowed to come to America even though their lives were in danger. What do you think about that?
- Lots of characters in the play put on the Nazi armband to show that the Nazis weren’t all “bad guys.” They were regular people who made bad choices and maybe didn’t even realize what they were doing. Do you think that ever happens today? How can we keep from doing that ourselves?
- Inge’s father tells her she must never hate people. Do you think that’s hard sometimes, not hating people?