Playwright helps Holocaust survivor tell brother’s story

Haas was in Danville, Iowa, doing research at the Anne Frank Connection Museum for another play, “Dear Anne, from Nina.” It’s about the real-life pen pal of Anne Frank, a girl named Nina who lived in Danville.

Most know the story of Anne Frank and her famous diary, written while she was hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during the German occupation. Anne and older sister Margot died at Bergen-Belsen in 1945. Their mother died at Auschwitz. Only their father, Otto Frank, survived.

The Danville curator told Haas that another Holocaust survivor, Eva Geiringer Schloss, had visited the museum only a week before. Schloss dropped off reproductions of her brother’s paintings in hopes they would be displayed. Would Haas like to see them?

“They were beautiful,” the playwright recalled. “Some made me happy, some showed despair. Heinz was in hiding when he did them, and just a teenager. I knew I needed to write about his extraordinary art.”

The librarian shared Schloss’ London address with Haas, who promised not to stalk the woman if she didn’t respond.

But Schloss did respond. Seems telling her brother’s story in a play for young people was something she’d always dreamed of.  

Schloss, 92, speaks internationally on the Holocaust and the importance of peace and tolerance.

She also works to bring her brother’s artistry to the world and to celebrate his ability to find hope and healing in art during a terrible time in world history.  

Three years in the making, every word of “My Brother’s Gift” was approved by Schloss. That was the deal, said Haas, an award-winning playwright, retired theater teacher and director who has published about 50 plays.

“I promised Eva I would do everything I could to showcase her brother’s amazing artistry as a teen. Eva hopes other young people who find the world challenging can be inspired by him,” Haas said.

The play opens on a crowded cattle car transporting the Geiringer family to Auschwitz in southern Poland. Heinz, 17, wants Eva, 15, to promise him she will return to their Amsterdam hiding place and retrieve his paintings and poetry after the war. They were hidden beneath floorboards in the attic.

Her brother realized how dangerous life had become for Jews, Schloss said. “Many young Jewish people were killed. He was so sensitive, and became very afraid of dying. He asked my father, ‘what happens when we die’? My father said, ‘everyone dies.’ He told him he would never be forgotten; that we are all linked in a long chain from generation to generation and nothing is lost.”

Schloss kept her promise and returned with her mother to the Amsterdam house. “After the terrible things we experienced, I had forgotten about the paintings,” she said. “I had to accept that my brother and father were never coming back.” The play touches on her mother’s reluctance to return to their hiding place. She was afraid to face the person they knew betrayed them to the Nazis. But strangers opened the door and allowed them to search the attic. About 20 paintings were there, with a note and a book of poetry, just as Heinz had told her.

As a sidenote, Fritzi Geiringer, Eva’s mother, married Otto Frank in 1953. Posthumously, then, Anne and Margot Frank became Eva’s stepsisters.

The Geiringers had been neighbors of the Frank family and Eva knew Anne, Haas explained. Eva was a friend, but they were not close. “Anne was boy crazy and into clothes, and Eva was more a tomboy,” she said. Anne was also smitten with Heinz, a studious boy who played chess and taught himself four languages.

Both families went into hiding at the same time after Margot Frank and Heinz were “called up” by the Nazis to serve in labor camps. When they were captured, Anne Frank left behind her famous diary. Heinz Geiringer left his art and poetry.

The playwright has grown close to Schloss, who married an Israeli in ‘52 and raised three daughters in Great Britain. Haas describes the nonagenarian as “a force of nature.”

“She’s so remarkable,” Haas said. “She’s blunt, funny and opinionated. She attributes her survival to luck and miracles.”

The Soviets liberated Auschwitz on Jan. 27, 1945. Weeks earlier, knowing the Red Army was closing in, the Nazis marched able-bodied men in freezing temperatures, including Heinz and his father, to the Mauthausen labor camp in Austria.

Eva was told her father died from exhaustion when they arrived at the camp. Heinz succumbed in May, days before Germany surrendered.

Haas plans to host her friend in White Bear Lake sometime in April when Eva plans a visit to the Midwest. The playwright is working on arranging readings from the play with several theater groups. “I’d love for Eva to hear it,” Haas said.

At press time, Haas learned that Lakeshore Players Theatre will hold a reading of “My Brother’s Gift,” April 18. Watch the Press for more details.

“My Brother’s Gift” is being marketed by a Connecticut theater group called StagePartners. The text can be read for free at www.yourstagepartners.com.

Haas, a grandmother who has lived in White Bear Lake for 33 years, would be elated if the play went worldwide. “It will never be as big as ‘Diary of Anne Frank,’ but I’d like it to reach young people who are living through challenging times. I want to show them here is someone who used art under unconscionable circumstances to help him cope.”

More of Geiringer’s paintings can be found at Claudiahaas.com under “The Plays” tab.