With the support of the EAJC, the Second 'People's Memory' Theater Competition has commenced in Russia.

On February 13, the press center of the Parliamentary Newspaper (Parlamentskaya Gazeta) in Moscow announced the launch of the Second All-Russian Amateur Theater Competition in Memory of Holocaust Victims "The Memory of the People."

The competition is open to non-professional creative groups and associations of school and university students, as well as educational staff aged 14 to 35. Eligible submissions include theatrical productions in Russian, ranging from 5 to 15 minutes in duration. These may encompass dramatic or musical plays, as well as literary-musical or musical-dramatic compositions.

To participate, contestants must submit an application to the Competition Organizing Committee at holocaust-memory2019@mail.ru, marked "The Memory of the People," no later than March 20, 2019. The application must include a link to a video recording of the theatrical production uploaded to YouTube.

Detailed information on the terms of participation is available on the website конкурспамять.рф

The finalists, selected by the Organizing Committee, will be invited to Moscow for the final stage of the competition, which will take place on April 16 at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO). During the ceremony, the invited ensembles will present their works to the jury, consisting of representatives of the organizers and partners, as well as cultural and artistic figures. Winners will be awarded valuable prizes in several categories.

The competition is organized by the Public Youth Chamber (Youth Parliament) under the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, and the All-Russian Union of Jewish Students. Partners of the competition include the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR), the Russian Peace Foundation, MGIMO, the National Institute for the Development of Youth Self-Government and Parliamentarism, the Holocaust Center and Foundation, and the Moscow Association of Jewish Former Ghetto and Nazi Concentration Camp Prisoners.

According to Bella Waldberg, Director General of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress in Russia, theater and cinema are genres that provide an opportunity to communicate historical facts to a broad audience in an accessible language.

Photo: Parlamentskaya Gazeta / Yuri Parshintsev

On behalf of the organizers, Bella Waldberg expressed hope that the competition would receive support from the professional theatrical community and the media.