Women’s Voices Then and Now: The Woman is Present – Women’s Stories of WWII

Women's Voices Then and Now: The Woman is Present – Women's Stories of WWII.
Imagined recreation of moments from the lives of women in WWII. By Mary Moynihan, Fiona Bawn Thompson and Paul Kennedy. Recalling stories of bravery, sacrifice and love amidst the horror of war, as women stood up against fascism and totalitarianism and refused to accept oppression.

Women's stories in the performance include:

• Mary Elmes (1908-2002), a Cork woman who was the first Irish person honoured as ‘Righteous Among Nations' for her work saving Jewish children from the Nazi gas chambers during World War II.
• Marta Hillers (1911-2001), from Germany, who wrote her autobiography Eine Frau in Berlin (A Woman in Berlin) under the name ‘Anonyma' (Anonymous), detailing her experiences of the last days of WWII as she and over one million other women were raped and abused by Allied soldiers of the Red Army.
• Neus Català Pallejà (b.1915) from Spain, a member of the United Socialist Party of Catalonia during the Spanish Civil War, an active collaborator with the French Resistance during WWII, and the only living Spanish survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp for women.
• Maria Eugenia Jasińska (1906-43) from Łódź in Poland who worked for the resistance and gave up her own life rather than “name names”.
• Dolores Ibárruri, or La Pasionaria (1895-1989), from Spain, a revolutionary leader, political activist, communist and crusader against fascism during the Spanish Civil War who created the famous cry, “They Shall Not Pass”.

The performance is followed by a post-show discussion with the artists and invited guest speakers to explore powerful women's stories in history and gender equality today.