WORLO HISTORY PLAY

"I Want to Live"During World War II, German dictator Adolf Hitler unleasheda reign of terror across Europe. The diary of one Hungarianteen chronicles the consequences of his brutality.

ChcircictersEva Heyman, a Jewish girl living in

Nagyvárad, HungaryMarta Münzer, tva's friend, also JewishMrs. Münzer, Mdrto's mother*SS officer, an elite Nazi soldierÁgi Zsolt, Sva's motherMr. Waldmann, Eva's Jewish neighbor'German soldier 1*German soldier 2*Poiice officer 1»Police officer 2Juszti, Eva's former governessMr. Poroszlay, Juszti's new employerBéia Zsoit, Eva's stepfather, a noted

novelist and political writerMariska, Eva's family's former cook"Anna Cohen, an inmate at AuschwitzDr. Josef Mengeie, an SS officer

at AuschwitzNarrators A-E* Indicates a fictional or compositecharacter. All others were real people.

Words to Know

inti-Semitic \(adj]: relatedto hostility to Jews (who aredescendents of ancient Asianpeoples called Semites)

233E (v): to send out ofa country by official order

52323 (")• part of a city inwhich members of a particularrace or group live, usuallyunder poor conditions

PROLOGUIENarrator A: InFebruary 1944, EvaHeyman received adiary for her 13thbirthday. Althoughthe Hungarian teen-ager would neverknow it, the journalshe kept over thenext three monthswould become animportant historical document.Eva, who was Jewish, recordedevents large and small in anincreasingly desperate Europe.Narrator B: During Worid War II(1939-1945), European Jews livedin great danger. Adolf Hitler, thedictator of Nazi Germany, had con-quered most of the continent. Hisanti-Semitic beliefs led the Nazisto launch "the Final Solution"—thedestruction of the Jews of Europe.

SCIENIE INarrator C: In 1941, as WorldWar II rages across Europe,Hungary is one of the fewEuropean countries friendly toGermany. Still, Hitler urges theHungarian government to crackdown on its Jewish population.One summer afternoon . . .Eva Heyman: What a fun daywe've had, Marta!Marta Münzen Yes, I love riding

bikes with you, Eva.Eva Heyman: Metoo. Be sure to thankyour mother for thechocolate cake.Mrs. Münzer: Marta!Come at once. Thepolice want us.Eva: I wonder why.Marta: 1 don't know.It's probably becauseI was riding my bike

too fast. Papa always says so.Narrator D: But Maria's family istold that they're being deportedbecause her father wasn't born inHungary. The government crack-down extends to all non-nativeJews and their families. SS sol-diers, part of an elite military unitwithin the Nazi party, cram Martaand her family into railroad carswith other Jews and send them toa town in German-occupied Poland(now in Ukraine).SS officer: Move! Form a line!Marta: Those are machine guns.Mama! What's happening?Mrs. Münzer: They're going toshoot us all!

Narrator E: The SS officer gives anorder, and German troops openfire on the crowd of Jews. Overthe course of two days, almost24,000 people, including Martaand her family, are killed. News ofMárta's death haunts Eva. She

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WORLD HISTORY

¡tier,whose militaryaggression and"Final Solution"destroyedmuch of Europe

A shopkeepercleans up afterKristallnacht (theNight of BrokenGlass), anti-Jewishriots in Berlin,Germany, in 1939.

would write about it in the diaryshe got three years later, in 1944:Eva: I'm so afraid that I'll be takento Poland the way Mdrta was.Maybe I'll be taken there because Ihave a red bicycle too. I know thatwhat I've written is silly, butbelieve me, dear diary, I'm afraidthat I'm going out of my mind.

SCIEiSilE 2Narrator A: Hungarian Jews remainrelatively safe during much of thewar, with Hungary refusing todeport more Jews. As the war startsto go badly for Germany, Hungarytries to make peace with theAllies—the U.S., Great Britain, andthe Soviet Union. This angers Hitler,who turns his eye on Hungary's725,000 Jews—including Eva andher family. On March 19, 1944 . . .Agi Zsolt: What's all that racket?Eva: Germany has invadedHungary. Hitler's brutes are here!Narrator B: The Nazis make lifevery hard for Jews. On March 30,Eva watches as her neighbors areevicted from their home.Mr. Waldmann: But this house hasbeen mine for years!German soldier 1: Yes, it's a pretty

little house. It should suit us well.Mr. Waldmann: How can you stealfrom people like this?German soldier 2: We aren'ttaking things from people.German soidier 1 (kicking MrWaldmann): Yeah, we're takingthem from Jews. Now get out!Narrator C: Starting on April 5,all Jews must wear yellow Stars ofDavid on their clothing. Morerestrictions are announced. OnApril 7, police officers arrive atEva's house. She goes to the door.Poiice officer 1: We have orders toconfiscate your bicycle.Eva: You can't do that! It has aproper license plate. We paid thetax for it.Police officer 2: No Jew gets tohave a bicycle anymore.Eva: This is robbery!Poiice officer 1: if I had my way,Jews wouldn't even get bread.Narrator D: That night, Eva writesin her diary:Eva: / had only heard that sort ofthing on the radio, or read it in aGerman newspaper. It's differentwhen you read something thanwhen it's thrown in your face.Narrator E: Conditions grow even

worse for Hungary's Jews. Manyare robbed or murdered by policeand soldiers. Fear is everywhere.

SCIEiSilE 3Narrator A: Two servants, Jusztiand Mariska, must leave Eva'sfamily because Aryans, or non-Jews, can no longer work for Jews.Juszti asks her new employer tohelp Eva.Juszti: Please, Mr. Poroszlay, letEva hve here. I raised her, and Ilove her like a daughter. No onewould know that she's Jewish.Mr. Porosziay: why would I wantto save a Jew?Juszti: She's just 13!Mr. Poroszlay: Bring this upagain, and you'll be fired!Narrator B: Eva's family mustmove to Nagyvárad's Jewish ghetto.Agi: How are we going to sleep ina room with 13 other people?Where will we get food? There's afence, and no one can get out.Béia Zsoit: Look at all these rulesposted on the walls. "Don't makenoise. Salute all Germans."Eva: If we break any rule, big orsmall, the punishment is thesame: death.

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Starving and neardeath, inmates atthe Ebensee con-centration campin Austria werefreed by Americansoldiers in 1945.

SCIENIE 4Narrator C: On May 9, Germanofficials send out new orders.Hungary's Jews are to be shippedfrom the ghetto to concentrationcamps in Poland and Germany.There, Jews are worked to deathor killed in gas chambers.Narrator D: The deportationsbegin on May 15. Eva's worst fearsare realized. On May 30, shewrites her final diary entry.Eva: Dear diary, I don't want todie. I want to live even if it meansthat I'll be the only person hereallowed to stay. I would wait for theend of the war in some cellar, or onthe roof, or in some secret cranny. Iwould even let the cross-eyed police-man who took our flour away fromus kiss me. . . . I can't write any-more. The tears run from my eyes.Narrator E: Before the deporta-tion, Mariska pays a visit.Éva: How did you get in here?Mariska: A nice guard let me in.I brought you some food. Can Ido anything else for you?Eva: Yes. We're being deported!Please take care of my diary.Mariska: All right. I'll keep it safeand return it to you after the war.

In May 1945, theprisoners at Aust..Mauthausen-Guse._camp cheered thearrival of U.S. troops

Narrator A: Eva's mother and step-father are sent to Bergen-Belsen, aGerman concentration camp. Évaand her grandparents are taken toAuschwitz in Poland—the largestcamp, and one of the harshest.

SCIENIE 5Narrator B: Éva arrives at the campon June 6. She is chosen to work.But the labor is brutal, and she haslittle food. On October 17, the Nazisselect sickly inmates for execution.Eva: I'm afraid I won't pass thistime. I look like a skeleton.Anna Cohen: Try to stay to theback. Maybe he won't see you.Dr. Josef Mengeie (pointing atÉva): You! Your feet are coveredwith sores. You're unfit to work.Narrator C: Mengele orders Éva tothe truck—and certain death.Narrator D: But Eva's mother andstepfather are spared. After thewar ends in 1945, they get a letterfrom someone describing whathappened to Éva on her last day.Juszti: I feel so bad! I could havedone more to try to save her. I wastoo worried about losing my job. Ishould have taken her far away.Agi: But we were all so frightened.

The world should know about thecruelty that took her from us.Mariska has given me Eva's diary.My daughter won't be forgotten!

lEPILOGUIENarrator E: Eva's death madethose who might have helped herfeel guilty. But the blame for herdeath, and those of more than400,000 other Hungarians in theHolocaust, lay with Nazi Germany.The Nazis killed 6 million Jewsand 5 million non-Jews, includingGypsies, Communists, homosexu-als, and political opponents.Narrator A: Eva's mother pub-lished the diary two years after thewar, in 1947. It kept Eva's memoryalive—and gave a voice to millionsof others whose stories ended inHitler's death camps.

—Sean Stewart Price

Think About It

"I. Was Eva's mother right topublish her daughter's privatediary? Explain.

2 . What purpose did publishingit serve?

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