Psalm 16 – There Was Once A Theatre…

Lakatos Iván

scientific educational films

According to anti-Jewish racial acts passed before and during World War II, a great many well-known and important personalities were ousted from the field of Hungarian theatre, film, journalism and belles-lettres.

In order to provide for those artists forced out of "official professions", the Jewish cultural organisation OMIKE provided a stage for them in the Goldmark Hall, which was owned by the Jewish religious community. Only two members of the troupe have survived: actor József Zsudi, and Béla Karádi who was involved in the Goldmark Theatre as an assistant, stage manager, prompter, and as a kind of theatrical factotum. The introduction to the short life of this particular theatre is based on their memories and a portrait of the epoch by historian György Haraszti. Opportunities for actors, directors and writers to participate in the theatre that were otherwise banned from the profession under the statutes of the anti-Jewish racial acts passed before and during World War II, were provided with the help of the Jewish cultural organisation OMIKE in Goldmark Hall.