Hana Brady

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Hana Brady
Hana Brady

Hana Brady (Hana "Hanička" Bradová, Germanized in the tag in her suitcase as "Hanna Brady") (May 16, 1931 in Nové Město na Moravě – October 23, 1944 in Oświęcim, Poland) was a Jewish girl and Holocaust victim. She is the subject of the 2002 non-fiction children's book Hana's Suitcase, written by Karen Levine.

Along with her elder brother George, Hana was imprisoned by the German Nazis as a Jew, and sent to the Theresienstadt (Terezin) prison camp. In 1944, she was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp. While her brother survived imprisonment by working as a laborer, Hana was killed in the gas chambers only a few short hours after she arrived.

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[edit] Biography

Hana Brady was born on May 16, 1931 in Nové Město na Moravě, as a daughter of a storekeeper. In the spring of 1941 Markéta Brady (Hana's mother) was deported to Ravensbrück concentration camp, and then Karel Brady (Hana's father) was taken to Iglau in September. At first, George, and Hana were cared for by relatives, but they were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp on May 14, 1942. Meanwhile, Karel was transported to Cejl and then to Auschwitz where he died on July 14, 1942. Markéta was transported and killed on 29 October in the same year. George was deported to Auschwitz in September 1944, and managed to survive until he escaped during a death march in January of 1945. Hana was deported on October 23, 1944 and killed immediately upon arrival, sent to the gas chamber with a friend. George survived the war, and searched for many months for his sister. One day, another survivor who knew Hana finally told him the truth. It is described in the book that George's "legs turned into jelly and the world turned black".[1]

[edit] Hana's Suitcase

The story of Hana Brady first became public when Fumiko Ishioka of the Japanese non-profit Tokyo Holocaust Educational Resource Center exhibited Hana's suitcase in 2000 as a relic of the concentration camp. Wanting to learn more about the relic, Fumiko began researching Hana's life and eventually sought out her surviving family in Canada. The story of Hana Brady and how her suitcase led Fumiko to Toronto was the subject of a CBC radio documentary. The documentary was then adapted to a children's book in 2002 by the reporter, Karen Levine. The book became a best-seller and received the Bank Street College of Education Flora Stieglitz Straus Award for non-fiction, the National Jewish Book Award, and several other Canadian awards for children's literature. The book has received a nomination for the Governor General's Award and was selected as a final award candidate for the Norma Fleck award. It has been translated into numerous languages and published around the world.

[edit] The Replica of Hana's Suitcase

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 1960's. 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 museum, who explained that a replica had been created based on the pictures after the original suitcase was destroyed in a fire in 1984. This fire was likely caused by arson (according to the director and police at the time) while on loan to an English exhibit in Birmingham. As the museum personnel 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.[2]

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[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hana's Suitcase. Brady Family (2004).
  2. ^ Schlesinger, Joe. Hana's suitcase: A new chapter. CBC.ca.