The article reveals the creative activity of the only state Jewish theater group that existed in the 1980s in the RSFSR, the Chamber Jewish Musical Theater (CJMT) in Birobidzhan. The author briefly dwells on the peculiarities of the appearance and creativity of this troupe, which has its own unique style, which allowed it to earn success not only in the USSR, but also abroad. The object of the research was the performances of the Chamber Jewish Musical Theater dedicated to the tragic events of the Great Patriotic War, the genocide of the Jewish people carried out by the fascist invaders. The author emphasizes that attempts to address this topic were made by the first Jewish collective of the Jewish Autonomous Region (JAR), the Birobidzhan State Jewish Theater named after L. Kaganovich during the Great Patriotic War, for propaganda purposes, as for the performances of the new Jewish theater, which appeared in the RSFSR in 1976, they were noticeably different from the productions undertaken by the first Jewish collective of the JAR. It should be noted that the article for the first time reveals the content of individual plays based on performances – “Tango of Life”, “Higher than Life, Higher than Death”, staged on the stage of the Jewish theater in Birobidzhan during the jubilee years of Victory Day celebrations. At the same time, the theme of the performances analyzed by the author of the article was not devoted to the heroic struggle, not to the exploits of people committed on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War, but to the tragic fate of the Jewish people who were subjected to total genocide, ordinary people who found themselves in the territories occupied by the Nazis. As the author notes, this topic was raised for the fi rst time and with good reason. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the article for the fi rst time indicates the names and surnames of actors who played on the stage of the Jewish theater. Using a comprehensive method that combined a source-based analysis of articles from periodicals, archival documents and memoirs, it was possible to state that the performances discussed in the article played an important role in the creative activity of the young cast, revealed its capabilities as a drama troupe. In conclusion, the author states the relevance of this topic in modern conditions, due to the observed growth of nationalism in some countries of the world.
Sofya Gamaley (Fri,) studied this question.