Max Ehrlich
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 In memory of
the Theater Group
 Westerbork concentration camp
 1943-1944
 


 

 

Max  Ehrlich (1892-1944) was one of the most celebrated  actors  and directors on the German comedy and cabaret scene of the 1930s.

 

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The Association’s mission is to preserve the memory of Max Ehrlich and his artistry, as well as that of the other members of the Westerbork Theater Group... be it in their period of glory or most tragic moments.

The Association also promotes awareness of this theater genre, its unrestrained comedy and - ultimately - infinite sadness.

  

But  his  brilliant  career  was  brutally interrupted by the rise of Nazism and his resulting deportation in 1942 to Westerbork concentration camp in Holland.

 

Amazingly, there behind the walls and barbed wire, Max Ehrlich formed a theater troupe composed of fellow prisoners - the majority of them also famous Jewish show business personalities - and produced high quality musical and comedy revues.

 

This artistic activity provided the means for everyone concerned, audience and actors alike, to retain a small measure of humanity, free their minds - if only momentarily - from the tragedy of daily life and nourish the illusion of survival

Still,  in  the  end,  comedy did not prevail: like almost all of his colleagues from this theater of despair, in 1944 Max Ehrlich was transported to Auschwitz and gassed.

 

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                                 Last modified: January 5th 2012