Zalmen or the madness of God

 

A play by Elie Wiesel

Directed by Guila Clara Kessous

Rosian Bagriansky Zerner


Rosian Bagriansky Zerner survived the Holocaust in the Kovno (Kaunas) Ghetto, Lithuania and in hiding. Miraculously her parents also survived in a country that murdered about 96% of Jews - over 10% of the total population of Lithuania.  She is the niece of Lyda and Edwin Geist, the composer murdered by Nazis, whose music is being performed today. Upon her retirement from years of advocacy on behalf of Holocaust survivors and volunteer work to commemorate the victims of the Shoah, she received a Citation from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and another one from the Massachusetts Senate. In addition to her other positions, she has served as vice president of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust, on the  Holocaust Survivors Advisory Board at Jewish Family and Childrens Service and represented the Greater Boston Child Survivor Group and American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors at other organizations in addition to initiating and helping with projects such as a U.S. Postal Stamp for a diplomat who saved lives during the Shoah, removal of Mass. charter bank fees from survivor restitution payments, presenting a 10 million national Holocaust Education bill etc. Rosian has been an active speaker at universities, events, synagogues,  conferences  radio and TV and her story is told in several books. She was a leader and is actively participating in local German-Jewish Dialogue groups and is on the board of American Friends of Mogen David Adom, the Israeli Red Cross. Rosian Zerner graduated Barnard College, has travelled to more than 64 countries, paints, sculpts and writes poetry. She has two sons and four grandchildren.