A Sojourner in the Forgotten Cemetery: ‘Jagendorf’s Foundry,’ Identity and the Narration of the Self
A lecture by Dr Justin Mac Gregor (Film) for the School of Creative Arts Research Forum.
"Let us take advantage of this historic moment and cleanse the soil of Romania …"
These words began the Romanian Holocaust in 1941, an event covered rather infrequently compared to the concentration camps of the Nazi regime. Romanian Jews were to be deported into the countryside and expected to perish from exposure and starvation. So it might have been for the thousands sent to the German-occupied Soviet territory of Moghilev, were it not for the intervention of a Jewish engineer, 56-year-old Siegfried Jagendorf, who was among the deportees. Truthfully, he was not much of an engineer and as an entrepreneur, all his businesses had gone bankrupt. But in Moghilev, he finds clear purpose and his life’s greatest achievement: saving an entire Jewish community.
His book, Jagendorf’s Foundry, is in part a memoir of his incredible story, left untold until 1991. It is the story of a sabotaged and abandoned ironworks that became the instrument of salvation for nearly 15,000 Romanian Jews under Jagendorf’s sometimes divisive leadership and decision making.
My writing partner, Jonathan Keasey, and I have been approached and given the film option to the book by Jagendorf’s two grandchildren. They want us to tell the story of what is called the Forgotten Cemetery and the man who saved so many from being buried there.
But the book’s structure, and Jagendorf’s own self construction in it, raise questions about how to adapt such a story to capture such a complicated man in such a dangerous time.
The talk will examine the complexities of the original text and how we plan on using documentary and narrative screenplay tropes, reinforced by Buddhist Mahayana philosophy, to tell this story.
About the speaker:
Dr Justin MacGregor is the Head of the School of Creative Arts at TCD. A film and theatre-maker, his first feature, The Vigil (for Kurt Cobain) screened at festivals from Vancouver to Mumbai. His latest documentary Is There Anybody Out There? Young Voices from Inside a Pandemic premiered at the Virgin Media Dublin Int’l Film Festival in 2021. The documentary was a collaboration with 61 student filmmakers form 15 countries examining COVID’s impact. It has won 10 awards to date.
MacGregor’s award-winning theatre work includes the anti-war trilogy “A Slow Dance With Death” and he was Writer in Residence for Prague UNESCO City of Literature during the 30thAnniversary of the Velvet Revolution in 2019 where he worked with the Vaclav Havel Library researching a little-known part of the playwright’s life.
A researcher whose creative arts practice is his research, his focus is on bringing forward powerful true stories, many with his writing and business partner, the WGA writer Jonathan Keasey with whom he founded Dublin-based MindRiot Entertainment.
This event is run in accordance with Trinity’s Dignity and Respect policy, and its commitment to nurturing a respectful and inclusive research culture.
Please indicate if you have any access requirements, such as ISL/English interpreting, so that we can facilitate you in attending this event. Contact: VANDEPES@tcd.ie