Events & Performances

Image: Marc Smith

Public and Private, A Playwright's Journey
Born in the Great Depression, Marc P. Smith has lived through the periods of the second world war, the cold war, the civil rights movement in the U.S., Viet Nam, and the current universe of militant extremists. His stories present the amazing journey of an ordinary man traveling through world-changing events in search of a moral compass as he learns to navigate his life.

One remarkable focus of this episodic journey has been his meeting with Countess Freya von Moltke, widow of Count Helmuth James von Moltke. Helmuth James was leader of the famous ‘Kreisau Circle,’ the name given by the Gestapo to the resistance group that tried to blow up Hitler in his bunker on July 20, 1944. Von Moltke was executed by the Nazis on January 23, 1945; he had the distinction of being the only known German to be tried and executed because he put loyalty to Christ above loyalty to the Fuhrer. His widow, now in her 90s, escaped to the U.S., and has worked with Smith as a resource for his play, “A Journey to Kreisau,” illuminating the incredible anti-Nazi resistance group that almost brought a halt to World War II.

Here is a Jewish writer who brings this story, and his mission of reconciliation, to the lecture circuit. The audience is treated to a gripping tale of reconciliation, surprising family secrets, and a close-up confrontation with the horrors of Hitler’s Third Reich.

Selected critiques:
“Focusing on the von Moltke family,…(and) showing that there was resistance, Marc Smith not only provided a fuller picture (of the Holocaust), he was able to create an important legacy to German youth: it is not necessary to follow; it is, actually, necessary to stand up for that which is right. I emphasize German youth, because there were about half a dozen German M.A. students in the audience, and they were clearly moved….That, I think, is quite an achievement in and of itself.”
SunHee Kim Gertz, Prof. and Director of Graduate Studies in English, Clark University

“The students responded very positively to Marc’s personal approach. His personal investment in history was, I believe, something of a revelation to them. For them to see that history does matter, and that how history is told is of great importance…was magical.”
Rachel Freudenburg, Assoc. Prof., German Studies, Boston College

“Great, great talk.”
Lisa Dayne, president, Society of Professional Communicators

“It was truly amazing to hear Marc talk about his metamorphosis from being a youth taught to hate and fear Germany and the German people to an adult who actively participates in German/Jewish reconciliation. The time for reconciliation is overdue and we can’t wait to see the production of ‘A Journey to Kreisau.’”
David G. Brother, Adult Programming, Congregation Shalom, N. Chelmsford, MA

For more information on this multi-year creative project, please visit the web sites: The Kreisau Project and My Life in Smithereens.

To book Marc P. Smith for programming at your organization, and for fee information, please phone Susan Smith at 508-757-1472 or e-mail: bluepumpkinprod@verizon.net. His presentations can be from one half-hour to an hour in length, with additional time slated following his talk for a question-and-answer session.