My Brother's Gift by
SYNOPSIS: Anne Frank’s family and Heinz Geiringer’s family were neighbors in Amsterdam. After both Heinz and Margot were “called up” to work in a Nazi Labor camp, they went into hiding at roughly the same time. Anne Frank left a diary showing the difficulties of growing up in hiding. Heinz Geiringer left over twenty paintings and a book of poetry which show us both his hope for the future and the terror of the...
SYNOPSIS: Anne Frank’s family and Heinz Geiringer’s family were neighbors in Amsterdam. After both Heinz and Margot were “called up” to work in a Nazi Labor camp, they went into hiding at roughly the same time. Anne Frank left a diary showing the difficulties of growing up in hiding. Heinz Geiringer left over twenty paintings and a book of poetry which show us both his hope for the future and the terror of the time. Heinz loved the arts. A trained musician, Heinz turned to painting and poetry to utilize his time. He painted on tea towels, pillowcases and any surface that he could find. During the play, we witness his artistic growth through his paintings, poetry and his sister’s remembrances. The paintings vary from a nostalgic love of the life he once led to the fears that were now part of his everyday existence. . From the tender age of fifteen to seventeen, Heinz created a body of work that exists to this day. The play covers the power of art under unconscionable circumstances and how art is part of our collective humanity to cope, to heal and to hope.