Zdenka Fantlová (28 March 1922 – 14 November 2022) was a Czech actor, writer and

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and its allies before and during World War II in Europe and North Africa. There is no universally accep ...

Biography

Fantlová was born in

Blatná Blatná (; german: Blatna) is a town in Strakonice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,400 inhabitants. It is known for a water castle in the centre of a pond, and a landscape garden around it. The town cent ...

on 28 March 1922, and grew up in

Rokycany Rokycany (; german: Rokitzan) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 14,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban monument ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

. She and her family, like large parts of the Jewish population in Czechoslovakia, were deported in January 1942 to the ghetto in

Theresienstadt Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the Schutzstaffel, SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (German occupation of Czechoslovakia, German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstad ...

, where her boyfriend Arno had also previously been taken. Faced with the prospect of being abducted from Theresienstadt, Arno made a

pewter Pewter () is a malleable metal alloy consisting of tin (85–99%), antimony (approximately 5–10%), copper (2%), bismuth, and sometimes silver. Copper and antimony (and in antiquity lead) act as hardeners, but lead may be used in lower grades of ...

ring with the inscription "Arno 13.6.1942" which he gave to Zdenka as an engagement gift. The next day, Arno was abducted and never seen again. Under difficult circumstances, Zdenka kept the

ring as a memento of her youthful love, and it later became part of the title of her autobiography. Fantlová participated in the theatre activities that occurred in Theresienstadt. The ghetto was closed in autumn 1944 and its inhabitants were moved on to other camps. On 17 October 1944, Fantlová and her mother and sister were deported in cattle cars to

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, where the mother was murdered shortly after arrival. She and her sister Lydia then passed through the camps

Gross-Rosen Gross-Rosen was a network of Nazi concentration camps built and operated by Nazi Germany during World War II. The main camp was located in the German village of Gross-Rosen, now the modern-day Rogoźnica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, Rogoźnica in ...

in Germany,

Mauthausen Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern German ...

in Austria and finally

Bergen-Belsen Bergen-Belsen , or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, in 1943, parts of it became a concentrati ...

, where her sister Lydia died in the

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

epidemic that raged there. Fantlová survived and was liberated by the British Army on 15 April 1945. Fantlová stayed for a time in Sweden, where she received care and recovery under the auspices of the Red Cross. Fantlová emigrated in 1949 to Australia where she worked as an actor, and in 1969 moved to London. For many years, she came to visit schools and other organisations and tell about her experiences of Nazi abuse during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Fantlová died on 14 November 2022, at the age of 100.

Bibliography

*''Klid je síla, řek̕ tatínek''. Primus. 1996. . OCLC 36752461 *''My lucky star''. New York: Herodias. 2001. Libris 6938579. *Fantlová, Zdenka; Viney, Deryck (2012). ''The Tin Ring: how I cheated death''.

Alnwick Alnwick ( ) is a market town in Northumberland, England, of which it is the traditional county town. The population at the 2011 Census was 8,116. The town is on the south bank of the River Aln, south of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the Scottish bor ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

: McNidder & Grace. Libris 16015278. *Haggith, Toby; Newman, Joanna, eds. (2005).'' Holocaust and the moving image: representations in film and television since 1933''. Includes a contribution by Zdenka Fantlová. London: Wallflower Press. Libris 9805801.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fantlova, Zdenka 1922 births 2022 deaths 20th-century Czech actors 21st-century women writers Holocaust survivors Jewish women writers People from Strakonice District Theresienstadt Ghetto survivors 20th-century Jews Gross-Rosen concentration camp survivors Mauthausen concentration camp survivors Bergen-Belsen concentration camp survivors Women in World War II 21st-century Jews Czech centenarians Women centenarians Auschwitz concentration camp survivors