Before Eva Schloss and her brother Heinz Geiringer were taken to Auschwitz-Birkenau, they hid Geiringer’s artwork beneath the floorboards in the Amsterdam home where they were hiding and made a promise to each other to retrieve it after the war.

Before the war, between the ages of 15 and 17, Geiringer painted on tea towels, pillowcases, and any surface that he could find, creating a powerful body of work with more than 20 paintings and a book of poetry. At just 18, Geiringer was killed by the Nazis. But Schloss kept her promise and even wrote a book, The Promise, centering on their relationship and their pact to recover the artwork.

I too made a promise about that artwork to Schloss. The Holocaust survivor and I became longtime friends in 2001 when the New Conservatory Theatre Center was preparing to produce the play And Then They Came for Me by James Still based on another book Eva’s Story by Schloss who was the post-war stepdaughter of Otto Frank and a neighbor and playmate of Anne Frank. The play was so popular for school and adult audiences that it returned to NCTC’s YouthAware educational theatre program repertoire five times between 2002 and 2013. Each presentation was followed by a powerful post-show talk-back with Schloss and featured her brother’s artwork in our lobby gallery.

Last winter, I traveled to London where Schloss, now 95, resides. We met to discuss the play My Brother’s Gift by Claudia Inglis Haas based on The Promise.

Eva read to me from a forward she had written for the play: “One of the most important things about the Holocaust is the loss of millions of lives of decent, talented people and especially the young ones who did not get to experience the wonders of life. While I survived, my brother Heinz perished in the Holocaust at just 18 years old. He was a remarkable, gifted, sensitive young boy: a musician, a poet, an artist, and a seeker of knowledge. He taught himself five languages while in hiding. 

“I always wanted his short life to be remembered. With this play that wish has come true. It is a story about a young boy whose life was destroyed by hatred. Through his painting, poetry, and love of languages, he made his time in hiding bearable. I hope he can be a role model for the many young people who are struggling in a very complicated world.”

After a long thoughtful pause, she raised her head from the page and smiled at me. Her piercing blue eyes gazing expectantly into mine. “Do you remember the promise you made to me?” she said. “I do” I said, and I was happy to be able to tell her that the New Conservatory Theatre Center would be producing a run of My Brother’s Gift with both school matinees and public performances. Eva’s smile broadened, “Wonderful. 

Now more than ever, we need the power of art to remind us that even during unconscionable circumstances, there can be hope and healing. I took her hand and we sat quietly. I thought to myself, promises made and promises kept.

My Brother’s Gift plays at the New Conservatory Theatre Center October 20 and 27 at 1 p.m. 25 Van Ness Avenue at Market, San Francisco. For details and tickets visit www.nctcsf.org.  Book a school matinee performance Oct 1-24 (Tuesday-Thursday at 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.) here.

Ed Decker is the Founder and Artistic Director of the New Conservatory Theatre Center which
opened its doors in 1981. NCTC is a cornerstone institution leading in the fields of arts education
as well as queer and allied theatre production. A graduate of the SFSU Theatre Arts Department
he is extremely honored to continue is work with a wide array of artisans and activists. Over the
past four decades Decker has produced and/or directed hundreds of productions for NCTC. He is
particularly proud of the collaboration with his husband and writing partner on the world
premiere of Rights of Passage – a love story set against the back drop of the struggle for
international human rights. The acting edition of the play has recently been published by
Concord Theatricals in New York. Ed is looking forward to keeping the word “new” in the
company’s namesake emblematic of fresh, vital, equitable and transformative theatre.