Last month, I undertook a journey that was both emotional and physical, embarking on a Holocaust history research trip to learn more about my own family’s life before, during, and after the Holocaust, as well as learning about how Holocaust history is being taught, understood, and misunderstood in Poland today.
While on a stopover in London on my way to Poland, I had the chance to see the revival of Cabaret, starring Billy Porter as Emcee. This performance, starring a queer, Black man who plays with gender roles, was just days after the UK Supreme Court passed a transphobic ruling about assigned sex at birth being definitive of gender. While at first the show seems to be about queer marginalized identities, one quickly sees how much that kind of oppression is mixed in with antisemitism and racism. It was instructive to me watching this show, set almost a century ago when so many of its themes are so present today.
If you haven’t seen any version of Cabaret, I really encourage a watch. Set in the lounge of the “Kit-Kat Club,” performers go from lingerie-clad, cross-dressing, boisterous singing and dancing to, as the Nazis begin to gain power and influence, falling in line, wearing dull-colored suits, and marching in place. Antisemitism is also, of course, a strong theme.
The casting of Porter as Emcee and Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles, two African-American actors, helps draw the connection between Nazi Germany and current-day America. Immigrants are being targeted, and even those born in the country are not necessarily safe. The same kind of race-based hatred that enabled the Nazi rise to power is reaching a fever pitch in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. Both Porter and Wallace looked to me to be shedding real tears when they took their bows: homophobia/transphobia, sexism, and racism impact them and their communities, just as antisemitism affects ours.
One stunning change in this performance, and please forgive the spoiler, is that in the original, when Fraulein Schneider (who is not Jewish) is suddenly afraid to marry Herr Schultz (who is Jewish) because it has been made clear to her that the Nazis are likely to come to power and her affiliation with a Jew will cost her, someone throws a brick through the window. In this version, however, Emcee is off-stage cleaning and wrapping a cocktail glass and at the particular moment, he stomps it; the theatre fills with the startling sound of glass shattering. It recalls the German Kristallnacht, night of the broken glass, during which Jewish business and homes were targeted. It also recalls, in such a mournful way, the breaking of the glass at the wedding. To take a symbol of joy and turn it into a symbol of fear is so striking. I was moved beyond tears. It took my breath away
Herr Schultz won’t leave his native Germany, believing himself to be safe due to his German citizenship. We, the audience, know how wrong he is and how much danger he faces. It causes the audience to question what it is we face and do not yet quite grasp, even though warning signs abound.
Cabaret so startlingly highlights the ways in which antisemitism is at the root of so much other hatred, and also how the marginalization and dehumanization of some make the worst expressions of antisemitism more acceptable over time. It can feel tempting to join up with those in power as a form of self-protection, but no difference is spared in this logic of assimilation. Even those “Kit Kat Club” performers who end up “safe” had to don the uniform of complacency. We need to be careful about aligning ourselves with those in power, if their power is fuelled by fear and hatred.
The song the Germans sing to rally support in Cabaret is “Tomorrow Belongs To Me.” Far-right nationalists sing it even now as a rallying song, a huge irony given that the song is composed by Jews, trying to fight against far-right nationalist thinking. The political conditions are similar; just as Germans felt weakened and disenfranchised after WWI, we have generations of youth who have been through economic and climate collapse, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the erosion of social safety nets. It is no wonder they are looking for a scapegoat. I am deeply worried when Jews align ourselves with these far-right factions, some even in government now, out of concern for our safety.
There is no question there is a horrifying uptick in antisemitism, but we need to resist its weaponization by those who are scapegoating trans people, immigrants, and refugees. Jews know from history that if people are being dehumanized, disenfranchised, and deported for their ethnicity, we will not ultimately be spared; Herr Schultz is a reminder of that. All oppressions are linked to each other. Moreover, immigrant, refugee, trans, queer, racialized communities: the Jewish community is comprised of people from all of these groups. Right now, the fight against antisemitism is being pitted against other fights for justice, but this is a mistake. Jewish history and ethics demand that we fight for anyone who is being othered and whose otherness is being used to justify violence against them.
The genius of Cabaret is that the first half has the audience cheering and laughing, seeing the beauty of sexual diversity, multiculturalism, irreverence, and joy. Then, as the Naziism comes to the fore, we viscerally feel the impact of having all of that erased. Life can change so very quickly. But “Life is a cabaret, my friend.” I’ll take the lesson not to give into the colorless, lifeless group in power, marching in time to the beat of hatred. We need to keep singing, keep dancing, keep joining hands with those who dare to live their lives fully in spite of the hatred against them.
What does that look like? When I arrived in Poland, facing the most horrific histories of violence impacting my family and our larger Jewish family, I felt strongly the impulse to not just survive, but to thrive. I deeply inhaled the scent of the lilacs on the trees, populating the green spaces that once framed the Warsaw Ghetto. I went for gorgeous dinners with educators and historians committed to peace-building and truth-telling as Poland grapples with its past. I sat by the river and basked in the feeling of the sun on my face. As Jews, we know and keep having to confront stories of violence and destruction. May we also remember to value the gift of being alive. I am, we are, the lives we get to live are our ancestors’ greatest dreams. Let’s not hold them lightly.
Rabbi Denise Handlarski is the creator and spiritual leader of the online community Secular Synagogue and the author of the book The A-Z of Intermarriage. She was ordained by the Secular Humanistic Jewish movement. In addition, Denise is an Associate Professor at the School of Education, Trent University, Canada. She teaches courses in history and social justice education, particularly gender studies and anti-racist education, for the B.Ed. and M.Ed. programs, while also leading the School of Education well-being program, and Sex Education Alternative Settings Placement. Having served as the M.Ed. Director and B.Ed. Coordinator, Denise’s research areas include: spirituality and community in education, sex education, well-being and education, Jewish studies, and birth/motherhood studies. In 2022 she led a project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada on Jewish Responses to the Loneliness Epidemic. Denise is also a certified labour/birth doula.