Episode 25: Vera Haymann’s Theater in Chains
After dark in German-occupied Amsterdam, a small group of friends risked their lives to engage in a unique form of resistance: puppet theater. Behind the darkened windows of a safe-house, marionettes built by graphic designers Vera Haymann and Herbert Meyer-Ricard acted out biting satires of the bitter circumstances unfolding outside. This “fettered theater” gave the audience a glimmer of hope and solidarity in a time of darkness.
The Hermann Haymann Collection in the LBI Archives includes two vivid, hand-illustrated booklets which document Vera Haymann and Herbert Mayer-Ricard’s life in hiding in Amsterdam.
See them online at lbi.org/haymann
Exile is a production of the Leo Baeck Institute, New York and Antica Productions. It’s narrated by Joshua Malina.
This episode was written by Joanne O’Sullivan.
Our executive producers are Laura Regehr and Stuart Coxe.
Our producer is Emily Morantz.
Research and translation by Isabella Kempf. Additional translation by Tamara Lewis.
Voice acting by Adi Braun, Gordon Hecht, and Cyrus Lane.
Sound design and audio mix by Gaëtan Harris, with additional mixing by Philip Wilson.
Theme music by Oliver Wickham.
This episode of Exile is made possible in part by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance and the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future.
