Hana's Suitcase
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Hana "Hanička" Brady (born Hana Bradyová; 16 May 1931 – 23 October 1944) was a Czechoslovak Jewish girl murdered in the
gas chambers A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. History Gener ...
at German concentration camp at Auschwitz, located in the occupied territory of
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, during the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. She is the subject of the 2002 non-fiction children's book ''Hana's Suitcase'', written by Karen Levine.''Hana's Suitcase'': Holocaust Remembrance Series for Young Readers
; New edition with foreword by Nobel Peace Prize winner
Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...
. Second Story Press (product page).


Biography

Hana Brady was born on 16 May 1931 in
Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
, the daughter of Markéta (née Dubsky) and Karel Brady. Her family lived in
Nové Město na Moravě Nové Město na Moravě (; ) is a town in Žďár nad Sázavou District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,800 inhabitants. It is known as a winter sports resort. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protecte ...
in the
Vysočina Region The Vysočina Region (; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic. Its capital is Jihlava. The region is located in the central part of the country. It is one of just three in the country (the others being Prague and the Central Boh ...
of
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
. After the occupation of the whole of Czechoslovakia by
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
and the creation of the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was a partially-annexation, annexed territory of Nazi Germany that was established on 16 March 1939 after the Occupation of Czechoslovakia (1938–1945), German occupation of the Czech lands. The protector ...
on 15 March 1939, the discriminatory
Nuremberg laws The Nuremberg Laws (, ) were antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on 15 September 1935, at a special meeting of the Reichstag convened during the annual Nuremberg Rally of the Nazi Party. The two laws were the Law ...
began to be applied in this territory. Eight-year-old Hana and her older brother
George George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Gior ...
(born Jiří Brady) watched their parents being arrested and taken away by the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
, and Hana and George never saw them again. Hana and George were sent to the
Theresienstadt concentration camp Theresienstadt Ghetto was established by the SS during World War II in the fortress town of Terezín, in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia ( German-occupied Czechoslovakia). Theresienstadt served as a waystation to the extermination c ...
. In 1944, Hana was deported to the
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...
. While her brother survived by working as a
labourer A laborer ( or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor typed within the construction industry. There is a generic factory laborer which is defined separately as a factory worker. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which ...
, Hana was sent to the gas chambers a few hours after her arrival on 23 October 1944. Her body was cremated with other victims in the ovens at the crematorium.


''Hana's Suitcase''

The story of Hana Brady first became public when Fumiko Ishioka (石岡史子, ''Ishioka Fumiko''), a Japanese educator and director of the Japanese
non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
Education Resource Center, exhibited Hana's suitcase in 2000 as a relic of the
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
.Dalit Danenberg. The efforts she made to uncover the life story of the girl who owned the suitcase went far beyond any job descriptio
"Teaching Outside the Box"
(PDF) Yad Vashem Education Awards 2006; retrieved 25 March 2010.
Visiting Auschwitz concentration camp, Auschwitz in 1999, Ishioka requested a loan of children's items, things that would convey the story of the Holocaust to other children.''Hana's Suitcase''
, CBC Sunday Edition radio documentary Web version, with family photos and Hana's artwork. With audio link to the documentary; retrieved 25 March 2010.
The suitcase turned out to be a very capable means of telling the story of the Holocaust, reaching out to children at their level. The suitcase has large writing on it, a name and birthdate and the German word, ''Waisenkind'' (orphan). Ishioka began painstakingly researching Hana's life and eventually found her surviving brother in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
.Annika Orich
"Remembering Hana"
, ''Canadian Literature'' book review; retrieved 24 January 2012.
The story of Hana Brady and how her suitcase led Ishioka to
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
became the subject of a
CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...
documentary. Karen M. Levine (born 1955), the producer of that documentary, was urged to turn the story into a book by a friend who was a publisher and whose parents were Holocaust survivors. Said Levine: In February 2004, Lara Brady, Hana's niece, discovered inconsistencies between the suitcase on display and the suitcase pictured with Hana's friend after the war in the 1960s. Not only did the physical suitcase appear newer than in the photographs, but the location of the handle was also reversed. In March, Fumiko and George Brady inquired about the suitcase with the director of the
Auschwitz Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, 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 consisted of Auschw ...
museum, who explained that a replica had been created based on the pictures after the original suitcase was destroyed in a fire in 1984, while on loan to an English exhibit in Birmingham. This fire was likely caused by arson (according to the director and police at the time.). As the museum personnel had omitted this fact when they loaned it to the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center, the fact that the suitcase was a replica had gone unnoticed for several years. The family and the Center assert that even as such, the replica's contribution to the cause of human rights and peace education is not lessened by its lack of authenticity.


Awards and recognition

The 2002 book became a bestseller and received the
Bank Street College of Education Bank Street College of Education is a private school and graduate school in New York City. It consists of a graduate-only teacher training college and an independent nursery-through-8th-grade school. In 2020 the graduate school had about 65 ful ...
Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for non-fiction, the National Jewish Book Award, and several other Canadian awards for children's literature. The book received a nomination for the
Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...
and was selected as a final award candidate for the Norma Fleck award. It has been translated into over 20 languages and published around the world. In October 2006, the book won the
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
award, presented to George Brady at a ceremony in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
.A Suitcase that Talks
, ''
Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Je ...
''


Adaptations

A play based on the book was written by Emil Sher. A film, '' Inside Hana's Suitcase'', appeared in 2009. The suitcase featured in the CBC documentary was not the original, but a replica. The real suitcase, on loan, was destroyed by
neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...
arsonists, who set fire to a warehouse in
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
, England, in 1984. The audiobook is available on certain websites. In 2011, a
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
version of the play was staged by the Nephesh Theater in
Holon Holon (, ) is a city in the Tel Aviv District of Israel, located south of Tel Aviv. Holon is part of the Gush Dan, Gush Dan metropolitan area. In , it had a population of , making it the List of cities in Israel, tenth most populous city in Isra ...
, Israel.


See also

* List of posthumous publications of Holocaust victims * List of Holocaust diarists *
Anne Frank Annelies Marie Frank (, ; 12 June 1929 – February or March 1945)Research by The Anne Frank House in 2015 revealed that Frank may have died in February 1945 rather than in March, as Dutch authorities had long assumed"New research sheds new li ...
*
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
*
Anti-Semitism Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
*
Petr Ginz Petr Ginz (1 February 1928 – 28 September 1944) was a Czechoslovak boy of partial Jewish background who was deported to the Theresienstadt Ghetto (known as Terezín, in Czech) during the Holocaust. He was murdered at the age of sixteen when ...


References


External links


Family websiteRadio PrahaTokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center


at www.enquirer.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Brady, Hana 1931 births 1944 deaths Jewish children who died in the Holocaust Czechoslovak civilians killed in World War II Czech people who died in Auschwitz concentration camp Children who died in Nazi concentration camps Czech children Theresienstadt Ghetto prisoners People from Nové Město na Moravě People killed by gas chamber by Nazi Germany Czech Jews who died in the Holocaust Fiction about refugees and displaced people