Indecent

In the last pages of the play, Nakhmen tries and fails to get out of Europe to avoid the Holocaust. In reality, Mayzel Nakhmen moved to New York before the Holocaust and lived until 1966. Sholem Asch and his wife actually spent a lot of time in Europe in the 1920s and 1930s, though they also returned to America before the Holocaust. They moved back to Europe in the early 1950s, partly because Asch’s work was still receiving very harsh criticism and partly because he was being investigated as part of the McCarthy-era hearings that demonized—largely without proof—people he accused of being communists. Asch had been writing for a Yiddish-language communist paper, although Indecent alludes only vaguely to Sholem’s interest in socialism in 1905.

Sholem’s attitudes toward Antisemitism, Representation, and Decency have changed completely by the end of the play. He no longer believes in the project of creating radical Yiddish literature that depicts Jewish people in nuanced ways. He has experienced too much horror and violence to believe in his previously strongly held convictions. He even echoes Peretz’s earlier comment when he tells Rosen to burn his new translation. When Rosen refuses to do so, he is also echoing the same larger debate about the value of art and its ability to tackle difficult questions. For the troupe performing the play in Europe, the play’s primary importance is the way it connects people to their culture and the way it depicts Rifkele and Manke’s love. In a time of genocide, their continued insistence on the importance of art, intellectual life, and culture is a way of resisting the barbarity of the Nazi regime. Nobody in the Jewish community raises questions about decency anymore; there are far greater struggles in their daily lives than the morality of two women falling in love on stage.

The final pages of Indecent shed new light on Jewish Identity and Language during the Holocaust. The European troupe is contrasted with the Bagelman sisters, better known by their deracinated stage name, the Barry Sisters. Minnie and Clara Bagelman were born in New York City and made a living as jazz singers. They were popular from the 1940s into the 1970s, and they sang primarily in Yiddish. They were able to celebrate their language and culture, which was something Jewish people in Europe could not do openly. For the European troupe still putting on productions of The God of Vengeance, it is an act of courage and defiance to stage a Jewish play in Yiddish while living in a Jewish ghetto during World War II. Performing the play is a way to maintain hope and culture, even under the worst of circumstances.

The troupe’s continued desire to perform The God of Vengeance speaks to the theme of Lesbianism, Freedom, and Hope for the Future in the text. The actors can generate a sense of hope and love, even in a dusty attic with fellow performers and audience members in constant danger of being hauled off to the concentration camps to be murdered. The audience sees the rain scene in its entirety at last. It is a strikingly romantic scene that stands at the heart of the play. For Lemml, the love between Rifkele and Manke remains a very powerful symbol to the last. Just before his death, he chooses to imagine Rifkele and Manke escaping the Holocaust, instead of himself. If he and the actors cannot survive the Holocaust, he hopes that the better future that Rifkele and Manke represent will be able to survive.

When the troupe performs the play in the attic, Lemml tells the audience that they are short a few actors, so everyone has to double up and play multiple characters. The troupe is smaller than it ought to be because so many previous actors have died. Lemml does not say what happened to Ada Bornstein, the actress that Halina is replacing; he does not have to. Everyone in the Łódź Ghetto is very aware of the dangers they face—the implication is that she has been murdered by German occupying forces or their many collaborators. After the troupe dies, the actors’ ghosts keep performing. They continue to tell their story in a cyclical narrative night after night—this is why Indecent begins the way it does; the audience is witnessing one of these cycles of performance. The reason why the actors in Indecent play so many roles is therefore because the troupe members were already playing multiple roles before they were killed.