The stage at Beth Shalom Synagogue serves as the Russian battlefields of World War II. The immigrant Russian Jews in the amateur production of "The Fallen and the Living" play famous pre-war poets.

Only the six dozen Jewish veterans of the Russian Army who are expected to be part of the sold-out audience at the show on Sunday will be who they truly are.

As the guests of honor at a celebration marking the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany, the veterans will be feted by family and friends for their service during a war that killed more than 25 million Russians, including 8.6 million soldiers.

The centerpiece of the evening of dinner, dancing and song is the performance of "The Fallen and the Living," a play that debuted in Moscow's famous Taganka Theatre in 1965. Based on the work of Jewish poets who fought in World War II, it was written and produced by playwright Yuri Lyubimov.

"There is no person in Russia who does not know this play," said Lyuba Gindin of Mt. Lebanon, one of the organizers of the evening. "It's about poets. It's about veterans. It's about giving their lives for their country.

"I don't know another play that would reflect so much about World War II."

In many ways the play encapsulates the Jewish existence in Russia. More than a half-million Jews served in the Russian army despite centuries of pograms, expulsions, discrimination and religious persecution. Forty percent of all Jewish soldiers -- 200,000 -- died during the war.

Two hundred members of the Union of Soviet Writers died during the war, and several of the poets included in "The Fallen and the Living" were among them.

Musa Jalil, for example, was executed at a German prisoner-of-war camp in 1944. Posthumously named Hero of the Soviet Union, his country's highest honorary title, he was known before the war for co-founding the Tatar State Theatre of Opera and Ballet and for heading the Tatar Writers' Union.

His poem "The Handkerchief" relates the gift of a handkerchief from his true love "...pressed, in parting's token...And now, to stop the bright blood flowing, I press it to my open wound."

Vsevolod Bagritsky was a poet in Odessa when the war began. He was 20 when he was shot and killed in the village of Dubovik while working as a reporter for the Second Army's newspaper.

His poem "Odessa, City Mine!" recounts vivid scenes of war. "Let death walk every street; With hoarse and choking sound, Let homes in flame go up and topple to the ground. Let acrid smoke eat at our eyes, let bread Give off the smell of powder and of lead...Odessa, city mine, We'll not surrender you!"

Lyubimov's play introduced some of the poets to the Russian public. It also sent a very strong message against anti-Semitism, unusual in the Soviet Union during the 1960s when the government closed women's mikvehs, or ritual baths, forbid the baking of matzo for Passover, prevented the publication of Jewish prayer books and tried to stop circumcisions.

Lyubimov sent a copy of the script to Gindin along with a note requesting that no money be made from the performance, only that she should "make the veterans a nice evening."

The veterans are part of a 2,000-member community of Russian Jews that has settled in Pittsburgh since 1988 through the auspices of the Jewish Family & Children's Service. Sunday's performance will be in Russian.

Gindin and others raised about $500 from local immigrant Russian-owned businesses to help defray the production's costs, which she estimated at more than $700. Ticket-holders each paid $15 to cover the cost of the dinner at Beth Shalom.

Gindin said if there is sufficient interest, a second performance might be held.

"It's more than just a play," she said. "We grew up with World War II in us. What they gave us was basically life. By winning the war they gave us life."

For more information about "The Fallen and the Living," call 412-952-0438.