A Surprise Visit to the Library and the Power of Art and Archives: The Impact of Sala Garncarz-Kirschner's Holocaust Story
Julia Mish with her grandparents, Bill and Cheryl
The Sala Garncarz-Kirschner collection continues to introduce young talents to The New York Public Library. The story of Sala, a teenage Holocaust survivor, who went through seven Nazi labor camps and rescued for posterity precious letters from friends and family members—most of whom perished in WWII—is an enduring source of inspiration and a powerful lesson in resilience. The play Letters to Sala by Arlene Hutton, based on the book Sala's Gift written by Sala's daughter Ann Kirschner, a renowned educator and scholar, connects students emotionally and encourages them to engage with the original documents. It is especially important when students visit the Library in person.
A recent visit by Julia Mish, who graduated from high school this spring, and her grandparents was very moving. Julia played the role of older Sala in her school's theater production in Coral Springs, Florida. Knowing how important this role was to Julia, her grandmother Cheryl contacted us in advance to set up an appointment. However, the visit was kept a secret from Julia. Needless to say, Julia was surprised and excited by this thoughtful gesture. In mid-June, I had the pleasure of meeting Julia and her grandparents, and I was thrilled to see Julia's reaction to the photographs and letters. I asked her to describe her impressions of participating in the play and to reflect on how this experience impacted her personally. Julia wrote a wonderful short essay that beautifully demonstrates the profound power of art and archives on younger generations.
Sala and Me: How I Learned Her Story Through Theater
Julia Mish as older Sala in the theater production of "Letters to Sala", Coral Springs Charter School in Florida.
by Julia Mish
“The arts make a bridge across this world in ways that nothing else can.” A quote from Julie Andrews that has stuck with me for a while. Theater is able to portray stories in ways that nobody ever imagined it could. That is exactly what I though when we started to work on our fall school play Letters to Sala. The story follows both Young Sala and the Older Sala as they relive, mentally and physically, Sala’s past through letters, photographs, and documents that she had saved in the time she was at the Nazi labor camps in Poland during the Holocaust. We performed this play during my senior year of high school at Coral Springs Charter School in Coral Springs, Florida where I got to play Sala Garncarz. When I received this role I had no idea how much it would change my perspective on theater, on myself as an actor, and myself as a person. Going into this play, I didn’t know Sala’s story. But the more the show got put together and everyone’s characters began to show, I started to truly start understanding her story on a deeper level. All of the connections that she made helped me realize that she is one of the strongest women out there and more people should know about her story. Being able to do some research and learning more about how she gave the letters to her daughter, Ann Kirshner, who put them in The New York Public Library to preserve along with photographs and documents that Sala had saved in an old Spill-And-Spell box made me want to know even more about her.
The letters were some of the most intriguing and interesting pieces that we got to look at as we had some digital copies with translations. From a scene in the play we find out that you are not allowed to keep a letter. You are supposed to read it and throw it away. But Sala kept all the ones that she could. One scene from the show that struck me deeply is the scene where Young Sala is scrambling around the stage to collect the letters that are being let go from the actors as they express their worry during these times of not knowing where family members are or about why they are not getting information. One of the main lines of that scene that is repeated over and over is “Write to us!” At the end of the scene letters fall down in flurries covering the stage and showing just how many letters she truly received during the time she was in the labor camps. As I played Sala, I got to witness this scene from the platform I stood upon watching the past unfold. Being able to watch Sala’s story unfold on stage as her past was reenacted was truly an experience that you could never replicate.
After I graduated, my grandmother arranged a visit with Lyudmila Sholokhova, Curator in the Dorot Jewish Division of The New York Public Library, who was able to schedule a time for us to have a viewing of the Sala Garncarz Collection which had been saved for almost 80 years. Being able to sit down and look at some of the letters, photographs, and documents that have been preserved at the Library brought me right back to when we first got to look at the digital collection back in September 2023. This collection is one that people should look into more especially since it shows a different side of the Holocaust. Most people just think of the concentration camps in Germany. But not many know about the places that were outside of that. Sala’s story shows that the rough conditions were everywhere. But seeing her bravery and how strong she was to make it through just proves that she deserves to be recognized and taught about more within history and beyond. As I took my final bow as Sala her story stuck with me for a while knowing that she was able to preserve this part of her history that was able to be shared with all of us. The quote that stuck the hardest for me was “If you don’t write everything is lost.” I find this very true especially since I still write handwritten letters. I started a tradition when I was a sophomore to write letters to the graduating seniors to show that I care and that I will always be there for them. This tradition continued even when I was a senior. At the beginning of the play I was saying “What is Letters to Sala?” but now I ask others “You don’t know what Letters to Sala is?” I hope that this play and its story reaches more people because her story deserves to be told. Thank You Sala Kirshner. Your story will live on forever.
Learn more about Sala Garncarz in the Library's archived digital exhibition, Letters to Sala.