Excerpted Comments, “A Journey to Kreisau,”

A Journey to Kreisau is an impressively authentic piece as it conveys the image of Helmuth James von Moltke, a sovereign personality in the midst of Nazi terror, as well as of the Kreisau Circle of friends who came together to make plans for a regenerated Germany”—the late Klemens von Klemperer (L. Clark Seelye Professor of History, emeritus, Smith College and author: German Resistance Against Hitler).

“Marc Smith brings to artistic life a little known episode of moral heroism during the savage era of Nazism, an episode which deserves greater attention in the western world. He captures, with splendid power, the determination, the moral clarity, the love, and the true patriotism of a dedicated group of extraordinarily moral heroes at a time of unspeakable terror. I can only hope that Smith’s bold and memorable work finds the international audience it deserves.”—Larry Lowenthal (retired Executive Director, American Jewish Committee, New England Region).

“Dramatically preserving history is the challenge that Marc P. Smith has set for himself with his latest play, A Journey to Kreisau…(he) has succeeded in a way that makes a real impression. Smith tells a powerful story…it will leave a striking imprint and legacy as that journey continues.”—Richard Duckett (reviewer, Telegram & Gazette)

“It is especially important to me that an American playwright is telling this story of the Kreisau Circle and of this man and this woman. The play has a message that is still valid today; it shows our children, by example, that elementary humane and civil courage have been possible, even during the darkest time of our history.”—Dr. Wolfgang Vorwerk, (former Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany) 

“I have just this evening returned to Berlin from a long weekend in Kreisau [Krzyzowa] which included the presentation for the first time of your play at Kreisau…the audience was transfixed. It is time for me to congratulate you on the successes the play has already had with German audiences.”—Helmuth Caspar von Moltke (son of Helmuth James and Freya von Moltke) 

“The historical time-line of events was wonderful; the thing that struck me the most was the bewilderment of the students as the world spiraled downward. ‘How could that happen? Didn’t they see it?’ Very powerful, and by doing it in this medium (a play), it is personal…It is hard to find quality curricula that ends as powerfully as the play asking the questions of faith, life and death.”—Don Holwerda, Executive Director, EduSource Unlimited, Chattanooga, TN.

“I am stunned. You have created a magnificent blend of facts and storytelling and left personal creative space for imagination. It was so fast, so rhythmical, with such an outpouring of what matters and how it should matter.”—Rosian Zerner (past Vice-President of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust) 

“I found your script amazing—congratulations! You certainly encapsulated the history of the Third Reich and the resistance thereto. It captured the momentum of how the events unfolded.”—Robert L. Reynolds (educator, author of A Call For Conscience—Albrecht Tietze’s Opposition to Hitler)

“I took a copy of the play on the plane with me. Could not put it down until the last page and I am not one for reading plays. After being in Kreisau and seeing with my own eyes, I revisited the play and learned even more. Congratulations on a job well done and one that needed to be done.” –the late Arnold Reisman, Ph.D. (retired professor, Case Western Reserve University, and author: Turkey’s Modernization: Refugees from Nazism and Ataturk’s Vision). 

“Wonderful play! Marc has written a real masterpiece. He brought history to life for me in a way that’s never been done before.”—Phyllis Hanlon (freelance writer/editor and former board member of the Society of Professional Communicators) 

“I was overwhelmed by the play. The reader is hooked at once and, frankly, you want to keep going. A play like this would have been invaluable for me as a tool in any of my classes.”—Ellen Reisman (retired high school teacher of English composition, theatre, and communications, Cleveland OH.) 

-Photo courtesy of World Jewish Congress

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