Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press

Hannah Morgan, who plays Erika Mandler, and Caleb Buckmaster, who plays Erich Jokel, rehearse their wedding kiss for the first time. Chillicothe High School is putting on an original production entitled 'Courage & Love; the George and Erika Mandler Story,' which was written by Lisa Rule.

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Chillicothe High School English teacher Lisa Rule has heard Erika Mandler’s story of Holocaust survival many times over the past four years, ever since Mrs. Mandler started speaking to her classes.

She’s heard about how Mrs. Mandler’s first husband, Erich, died in Auschwitz. How she, her parents and brother spent time in the Novaki work camp, where she met and fell in love with George Mandler.

She’s heard the story of how the Mandlers hid from the Nazis in the mountains for months, while Erika was pregnant, before fleeing to freedom in Russia and, eventually, America.

When Mrs. Rule became the CHS drama teacher, she decided Mrs. Mandler’s story would make a good play. And she wanted to write it. Mrs. Mandler immediately agreed.

“I knew she would do it right,” says Mrs. Mandler, “and it needs to be told.”

Mrs. Rule was unprepared, though, for Mrs. Mandler’s reaction.

“She touched me on the arm and said ‘Lisa you are very brave,’ and I thought that was so ironic,” says Mrs. Rule. “Here she’s been brave all her life, and she thought this little thing I was doing was brave.”

A grim reality

Photo by Jessica Stewart / St. Joseph News-Press

Erich Jokel, played by Caleb Buckmaster, prepares to leave on a train for a concentration camp in a scene from the play 'Courage & Love; the George and Erika Mandler Story.

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Rehearsals in the Gary Dickinson Performing Arts Center at CHS seem typical of high school plays. Students talk and laugh as they wait for their turns on stage.

The cast teases Hannah Morgan, playing Erika, as she prepares to kiss Caleb Buckmaster, playing Erich, for the first time for the wedding scene. Cell phone cameras are whipped out to record the big event.

The mood is light and upbeat, but the cast sombers up when their scenes begin. Doing a play based on someone’s life, and knowing that most of the characters they are portraying died, has made the play more intense for them.

One of the hardest parts for both Hannah and Caleb is the scene where Erich is getting onto a train for Auschwitz. He knows he will die, but tries to remain calm for his wife.

“Oh, that’s sad,” Hannah says, slipping out of character, as she watches a sad-faced Caleb ride off stage on a wooden train car.

It’s knowing that scenes like that were an actual part of Mrs. Mandler’s life that makes the play emotional.

“It’s really hard because it’s just crazy to think it actually happened,” Hannah says later.

For Caleb, the play is testing him as an actor. He’s trying to convey emotions as Erich that he’s never come close to feeling.

“There’s no way I could think what someone’s supposed to feel in that situation,” he says. “Erich knew what was happening, but was trying to keep his wife calm ... I don’t know how anyone could possibly do that without bursting out.”

Opening their eyes

Though the play is full of tragedy, it does end on a hopeful note, with the Mandlers on a ship to America coming into New York. It’s a moment Mrs. Mandler still remembers well.

“That was the most thrilling experience, you cannot imagine,” Mrs. Mandler says. “When we arrived and we saw the Statue of Liberty, that just absolutely bowled me over. You know, freedom at last...”

The play will show at 7 p.m. on April 11 and 12, and at 2 p.m. on April 13. It opens the Thursday before with a private performance for more than 800 area students from 13 schools. Mrs. Rule wanted other students to have the chance to see Mrs. Mandler’s story.

“A lot of students don’t get very much Holocaust education until later on in high school,” she says, “and even then they don’t have a lot of personal investment.”

The lobby of the performing arts center will be filled with educational materials, including 12 banners that stand as a visual representation of the 6 million people killed in the Holocaust. Video of Mrs. Mandler speaking will play between acts.

Mrs. Mandler says she will go to a performance, but first she wants to watch a rehearsal, to prepare herself. Though she’s told her story many times over the years, it’s always an emotional experience for her. But she does it because she knows her talks, like the play, will open up people’s eyes to the reality of the Holocaust.

“... I felt, and I still feel, that I am here today, alive, so I can speak for my mother and father who cannot speak for themselves,” she says, “and the 6 million innocent people who perished.”

Lifestyles reporter Lacey Storer can be reached at lstorer@npgco.com.