MEDIATHEK

STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME is an opera in two acts about a true, fiercely optimistic and most unusual love story that takes place during the Nazi period. It is based on the book of the same title about Jaap Polak, a Dutch accountant, and Ina Soep, the daughter of a wealthy diamond manufacturer from Amsterdam. A story about the indestructibility of the life spirit and the power of humankind to survive adversity, STEAL A PENCIL FOR ME explores intimate concerns and private dramas alongside the epic horrors of the Holocaust.

When Jaap and Ina first meet in 1943 at a party in Amsterdam, Jaap is instantly smitten. However, he is unhappily married to Manja, a mercurial and flirtatious woman. Ina’s sweetheart, Rudi, has recently been arrested, and she knows nothing of his whereabouts. When the Nazis begin deportations, Jaap, Manja, and Ina are sent to Westerbork, where they are assigned to the same barracks, and then finally on to the more brutal Bergen-Belsen camp in Germany. Even though Manja and Jaap are planning to divorce when the war is over, Manja becomes jealous of the love that grows between Jaap and Ina, and forbids them to speak or meet. The lovers resort to writing secret letters with pencil stubs discarded by the Nazis.

Jaap and Ina survived the Holocaust. They were married for 68 years, living in Eastchester, New York. A distinguishing feature of their book of letters is how they allowed the story to unfold: their shortcomings and faults are just as easy to see as their nobility, and their honesty makes the story compelling and real. The Village Voice wrote that their story “offers a corrective to the sentimental prevailing notion that the Shoah only happened to saints.” A documentary on the Polaks was released in 2007 by director Michele Ohayon, and aired on PBS.

Jaap and Ina Polak attended the two performances of the opera in 2013, and were thrilled to meet the cast and see their story portrayed on stage. They have since passed away: Ina at the age of 91 and Jaap at 102.

Composer Gerald Cohen knew the Polaks for more than 25 years, as the cantor at their congregation. As the child of refugees from World War II–era Europe, Cohen had long had in mind the idea of writing an opera based in the time of the Shoah. It was after reading the Polaks’ book and seeing the documentary about them that he realized their story was the ideal basis for the opera he wanted to write, a perfect example of the human spirit in the midst of tragedy.