From a young age people learn what horror is, but do they really understand what it means for the world? The Holocaust, one of the most dreadful events in history, marks true tragedy. The survivors of it will never forget, but as time fades, will everyone else remember?

Ten Paly students will help inspire empathy in the Paly community with regards to the Holocaust through Degenerate Art (DA), a powerful re-enactment, tomorrow during periods one through seven in the Haymarket Theatre.

“The reason the story of the Holocaust is so important is because, by reminding people of what happened, hopefully it can be prevented from ever happening again,” one of the directors of DA, senior Noa Kornbluh, said.

The re-enactment, like most at Paly, will feature freshmen and a few upperclassmen. Apart from this, however, DA takes on a different path.

“Instead of taking the audience back in time it tells them the horrible truths of the Holocaust through quotes from survivors and moving photographs from the time,” one of the directors, senior Kate Carey, said.

An array of different characters will narrate anecdotal stories of the Holocaust as well as quotes from Nobel Peace Prize Winner Elie Wiesel’s book, Night, about the horrors he witnessed during the Holocaust. An upperclassman will act as the Nazi, who shepherds the audience members to their seats. Seven “voices” on stage will act as paintings as they speak, one artist will directly address the audience, and one freshman will portray Wiesel, according to Kornbluh.

The directors and DA actors have worked on this performance for seven weeks, which have been both hard and moving for all of those involved.

“As directors we work with the cast on how to say their lines with the right emotion, where to place dramatic pauses, and, of course, staying focused during rehearsal,” Carey said. “It is also important that the cast understand what they are saying, since so many of the lines depict horrible things about the Holocaust that they could never imagine.”

Kornbluh agrees that the subject matter, due to its serious nature, needs to be handled carefully, but the hard work is paying off.

“DA is a really powerful performance,” Kornbluh said. “The actors practice long hours to get their lines to sound just right and the slides are some of the most disturbing images I have ever seen. It really creates a complete picture of all the horrors of the Holocaust.”

The message they intend to convey?

“I hope the audience is struck by the horror of the Holocaust and disgusted with what happened to these innocent people,” Kornbluh said.

Carey also wishes that the audience members will realize that they can learn lessons from the Holocaust.

“There is a great line from Elie Wiesel that goes ‘the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.’ It means, do not ignore the signs, act now, and do something,” Carey said.