‘I decided to be silent’: Dina Pronicheva, Theatre, and Trauma in Wartime and Post-War Soviet Ukraine

Dina Pronicheva is well known as a survivor of Babyn Yar. Rarely discussed, however, is her work in theatre. She was an actor who trained in Kyiv and worked in puppet theatre before and after the war. During the war, it was her skills as an actor and her network of contacts that helped her survive for over two years, passing as a non-Jew working in Ukrainian theatre. This chapter places Pronicheva in the historiography of Ukrainian theatre and in particular Ukrainian theatre under Nazi occupation, which uncovers the Jewish experience that was an inextricable part of Ukrainian theatre history. In turn, her story shows how the Ukrainian context provides insights into post-war Yiddish theatre in Ukraine. Finally, Dina Pronicheva’s testimony suggests the embodied nature of theatre and survival.