Lights Up on the Dark: The Holocaust Onstage29 Sep 2025

S2 E2, Part 1: Shonaleigh and "The Fool of the Warsaw Ghetto"

In the first part of this special two-part episode, Sam and Alex look at a vibrant part of Jewish culture that was nearly lost during the Holocaust: the drut’syla storytelling tradition.

Special guest Shonaleigh Cumbers, believed to be the last living drut’syla, talks to the girls about the tradition and her life and experiences as a storyteller. She also offers some insights into her incredible story The Fool of the Warsaw Ghetto, a beautiful and bittersweet story about three children who, in the final roundup after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, encounter a man who offers them what could be another chance at life. Dare they trust the man with a coat like beggar’s velvet?

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Hosts: Samantha Mitschke & Alexandra Gellner

Guest: Shonaleigh Cumbers

Executive Producer: Samantha Mitschke

Producer / Editor: Alexandra Gellner

Music: “Image” by Infraction Music

Contact: https://holocaustonstage.com/contact/

Episode Sources

Books & Articles

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), Holocaust Encyclopedia: Warsaw.

The Wiener Holocaust Library, The Holocaust Explained: Case Study: Warsaw Ghetto.

Other sources

To learn more about Shonaleigh and her tellings, courses and events, please visit https://shonaleigh.uk.

For more information about Twilight Tales and to join the online tellings, please visit https://www.facebook.com/groups/twilighttales.

A published collection of some of Shonaleigh’s stories, A Garment for the Moon, is forthcoming from Orkneyology Press.

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