Review of Steal a Pencil for Me (2007) by Zarinah H — 22 Jan 2010

"Steal A Pencil for Me" is not a conventional Holocaust story though the people featured in it were Holocaust victims. I say this because the story is mainly an exploration of the relationship between two individuals who fell in love despite the odds being against them. Israeli director Michele Ohayon uses a documentary style to tell the story of Jack (Jaap) Polak, and his wife of 60 years Ina Soep Polak, who met in Amsterdam before the war, when Jack was married to another woman. The pair are instantly attracted to each other despite their very different backgrounds - Jack comes from an average financial background, whereas Ina comes from a wealthy family (her father was in the diamond polishing industry). When WW II breaks out, the pair (together with Jack's wife) end up in the Westerbork transit camp and later get moved to Bergen-Belsen. Throughout their internment, Jack and Ina maintain contact, exchanging letters in secret at a time when paper and pencil were prized commodities (hence the title of the feature which was also a phrase written by Jack in one of his letters to Ina).

I viewed their story with sympathy mainly because Jack's marriage to his wife was already in trouble before he met Ina - his wife was a jealous woman yet treated him almost with indifference, and the contrast between Ina and Jack's first wife was rather startling. The story moves back and forth between the past and the present - the past is often portrayed through the use of old photographs and archival film footage, and in the present we see Jack (at 93, still quite alert with a knowing gleam in his eyes) and Ina still as in love as when they were younger. It was heartening to see Jack still active in Holocaust education, and to know that this couple weathered the most unimaginable horrors and yet were strengthened by their love for each other, makes this a truly moving account.