A Theatrical Reading of the “KRUG” Agent Case in Haifa

What happens when an archival document is brought onto the stage?

On 14 July in Haifa, Zeev Project, Fulcro Theatre, and the J-Doc digital archive will present a theatrical reading of the “KRUG” agent case file — a case opened under the “Zionist” classification against Jewish writers in Kyiv: Dovid Hofshteyn, Itsik Kipnis, Abram Kagan, and Riva Baliasna.

“Okraska,” literally “colouring,” was the term used by the Soviet security services for the preliminary classification of a case. In the case of “KRUG,” that classification was “Zionists.”

But “KRUG” did not stop with its four initial targets. Over time, the case expanded: new names, connections, suspicions, letters, poems, and conversations were drawn into it.

Through agent reports, intercepted correspondence, background memos, and analyses of literary texts, the security services attempted to bring an entire milieu under control: the Soviet Jewish intelligentsia — writers, poets, critics, translators, and people connected with Jewish culture and Yiddish literature.

“KRUG” is not a performance in the usual sense. It is a theatrical reading and a space for conversation between actors and audience — about memory, language, freedom, and fear.

Why does the state claim the right to judge people for poems, plays, and performances? What is the price of preserving one’s identity — a century ago and today? Who writes denunciations, and why?

These questions come from the past, but they are addressed to us.

For those who will be in Haifa on 14 July, this is an opportunity to see how materials from the J-Doc digital archive become the basis for a theatrical conversation — about repression, Jewish culture, and the choices people face before the power of the state.

Details and registration: Zeev Project website.