| Neighbors Teaching Neighbors Media Coverage.
 Sayre Borough: Survivors share lessons learned from Holocaust
by Amanda Baird
Sayre Morning Times
Tuesday, Jun 17th, 2008
Sayre, Pa. - Tickets sold out quickly for Tuesday night’s screening of Steal a Pencil for Me at the Sayre Theatre, and most of the attendees even braved a sudden rainstorm for a short ceremony featuring Jaap and Ina Polak, the stars of the show.
In 1943 Jacob “Jaap” Polak and Ina Soep, both Dutch Jews, were rounded up in Amsterdam by Nazi forces and sent to Westerbork concentration camp, then Bergen-Belsen. Though they did not know each other well and Jaap was married, they fell in love and wrote secret letters to sustain each other through the 15 months of torture they suffered before being liberated by Allied forces.
Now 95 and 85, respectively, Jaap and Ina have been married for over 60 years and are both United States citizens. They travel the country and the world sharing their story and the lessons found within. Jaap is the chairman emeritus of the Anne Frank Center USA, a nonprofit educational agency that promotes a message of universal tolerance.
 Many of the Polaks’ letters from their days as prisoners have endured as long as they have, and in 2000 they published them in a memoir called Steal a Pencil for Me. Inspired by their courage, Israeli filmmaker Michele Ohayon turned their story into a feature-length documentary in 2007.
Jaap and Ina Polak have been recognized as exemplary humanitarians by the United Nations, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and even Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who knighted Jaap on his 80th birthday. In that spirit, last night the couple laid a memorial brick in the theater plaza reading “Dedicated to the memory of all Holocaust victims, 1940-1945, for those who remind us not to forget.”
Master of Ceremonies Joel Clawson welcomed over 100 people to the dedication just as the clouds began to make good on their threats from earlier in the day.
“This is one of the most beautiful events the Sayre Theatre has ever hosted,” he said, “and certainly the most meaningful.”
Brooks Eldredge-Martin, executive director of the Bradford County Regional Arts Council, thanked theater manager Margie Ross for organizing the evening’s events and then read the preamble to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
“Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,
“Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,
“Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law . . .
“Now, therefore the General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms . . .”
Marion Minick, founder of local non-profit agency Neighbors Teaching Neighbors (to which 25 percent of the proceeds from Tuesday’s event was donated), also stood to welcome the crowd, reminding everyone that “we must strive to prevent isolation by reaching out to our neighbors.”
“We are all part of the human family,” he added.
Following an extended standing ovation Jaap Polak took the podium and shared the six lessons that have been the foundation of all his teachings over the last 25 years, through 80 major cities and all 50 states.
“Lesson one: Don’t discriminate against anyone,” he said, citing Adolf Hitler’s discrimination that resulted in the extermination of over six million Jewish people, over one million of them children.
“Lesson two is ‘Don’t generalize,’” Polak continued, at which point his wife stepped in to illustrate.
Ina Polak recalled being in New York City at an off-Broadway production of the play “The White Rose,” the story of die Weisse Rose movement, a group of young German pamphleteers who resisted the Nazis’ ideology and actions during World War II. The group’s leadership was rounded up and executed in 1943.
“We heard the people in front of us speaking German,” said Ina, “and started to get upset.” She and her husband approached the group and asked who they were, only to receive a humbling surprise — a man turned around and introduced himself as Franz Mueller, the only surviving member of the White Rose.
“I owe it to the good Germans not to talk about the Germans anymore,” said Jaap.
“The third lesson is ‘Don’t be a bystander,’” he continued. “Always speak out, even to your own parents.”
After exhorting the crowd to “work for peace” as his fourth lesson, Polak urged everyone to enjoy the simple things in life.
“Appreciate your life,” he said. “Appreciate the normal things like a shower and a bed. Read a book. There was a time when I dreamed of having a bed and a shower . . . and don’t forget the parts of the world where people still dream of reading a book.”
Polak’s sixth and final lesson was “Appreciate the fact that we are living in the greatest country in the world.”
“We all need to work together to make this a better world, but this can only be achieved if people learn the lessons of the Holocaust,” he concluded.
Following words of reflection and prayers by Rabbi Miriam Biatch of Elmira, the Polaks officially placed their memorial brick. The gathering was brought to a close as the audience joined local group Pro Musica in singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth (and Let it Begin with Me).”
http://www.morning-times.com
Neighbors Teaching Neighbors has also been featured in The Daily Review.
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