Rachel Holzer ( yi, רחל האָלצער; 1899 – November 14, 1998) was an internationally acclaimed

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

Life

Holzer was born in 1899 in Kraków, Poland. Her parents were Anna Holzer (born Blatt) and her husbands Ignacy (Isaac) Holzer. Her mother was a home maker and her father was a house painter who led the local Yiddish Workers’ Union. She appeared in ''Di Emese Kraft'' a play by the Russiam American playwright

Jacob Gordin Jacob Michailovitch Gordin (Yiddish: יעקב מיכאַילאָװיטש גאָרדין; May 1, 1853 – June 11, 1909) was a Russian-born American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater. He is known for introducing realism and ...

when she was six. It is said that this experience created her ambitions to become an actress. She attended Krakow Polish Drama School, graduating in 1925. She was an actor with the Polish National Theater and worked in Yiddish Theater throughout Poland. She was married to the playwright Chaim Rozenstein. In 1939 Holzer and her husband arrived in Melbourne as part of a world tour. While Holzer was performing in Australia, the Germans invaded Poland. Holzer would remain in Australia for the rest of her life. Holzer had a successful career in the theater in Australia as an actress and director. One of her most important performances was in 1966 when she recited Yevgeny's Yevtushenko's

Babi Yar in poetry Poems about Babi Yar commemorate the massacres committed by the Nazi ''Einsatzgruppe'' during World War II at Babi Yar, in a ravine located within the present-day Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. In just one of these atrocitiestaking place over Septembe ...

. He was there as she performed his poem for 6,000 people which told how thousands of Jews had been massacred by the Nazis. She used her skills to speak in the voice of a mother whose children were killed. The audience and the Australian were moved. She often worked at the Dovid (David) Herman Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. She retired in 1977. Holzer died in Melbourne on November 14, 1998, at the age of 99.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holzer, Rachel 1899 births 1998 deaths Australian stage actresses Australian theatre directors Australian women theatre directors Jewish theatre directors Jewish Australian actresses