Ela Stein Weissberger, Holocaust survivor, recently visited fourth graders at St. Monica School in Santa Monica. Weissberger was among 15,000 children who lived in Terezin, the concentration camp outside Prague, Czechoslovakia, and she is one of the 100 children to survive its horrors.

At the age of 11, she was chosen to play the role of the cat in the children's opera "Brundibar," a role that kept her soul alive, "When we sang, we forgot hunger, we forgot where we were … And when we sang the victory song at the end, we imagined that we overcame Hitler. There was such power in this music."

Weissberger now shares her childhood experiences wherever "Brundibar" is performed. She enables children and adults to appreciate the historical significance of the uplifting tale. Santa Monica College's Madison Project partnered with the Los Angeles Opera and the Museum of Tolerance to launch the opera camp production of "Brundibar" for the second year. Three St. Monica Elementary students performed at Santa Monica College, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, and the Museum of Tolerance, and all fourth graders attended one of the performances.