In Tokyo, Japan, there is a row of simple street-front houses. Among them, a few have a sign with a hexagram symbol and a line of small text: Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center. The hexagram is a symbol of Judaism, and the term “Holocaust” in English has become a specialized term referring to the persecution and mass murder of Jews by Nazi Germany during World War II. These houses form a small museum.
This museum is a non-profit organization that aims to educate Japanese children about a historical catastrophe in Europe. Although it has happened over 80 years and is far away on the other side of the globe, the organization believes such education is crucial for Japanese children. It teaches them racial tolerance and plants peace in their hearts. In 1998, a young woman named Fumiko Ishioka began managing this museum.
The museum’s target audience is children. Ishioka wanted to display artifacts related to children, but there were no Holocaust artifacts in Japan. Although Holocaust museums in Europe and America had rich collections, it was almost certain they wouldn’t risk lending precious historical artifacts to an unknown small museum. Despite this, Ishioka decided to try. The result was a series of polite refusal letters.
A remarkable discovery in Poland
In the fall of 1999, Ishioka traveled to Poland. Many of the Nazi concentration camps were located there, including the infamous Auschwitz death camp, where Jews were mass-murdered in gas chambers.
Ishioka visited Auschwitz and met with the museum’s assistant director. She earnestly expressed her desire to educate Japanese children and requested to borrow some artifacts. The assistant seemed moved and agreed to consider her request. A few months later, in early 2000, Ishioka received a package from Auschwitz in the winter season.
Inside, besides a Nazi gas canister used for killings, there were items left behind by child prisoners: tiny socks and shoes, a little sweater, and a suitcase. This was Hanna Brady’s suitcase. On the dark surface of the suitcase, the number “625,” the name Hanna Brady, and her birth date, May 16, 1931, were crudely painted in white. Below was a striking word: “Waisenkind” (German for “orphan”). This was the only item Ishioka received that had a name on it.
Who was Hanna Brady?
The museum awaited visitors, but Ishioka organized a children’s group called “Small Wings.” They held regular activities, published newsletters, and expanded Holocaust education. These children were Ishioka’s core team.
The “Small Wings” were gathered around the suitcase, asking a flurry of questions: Who was Hanna Brady, the suitcase’s owner? Based on Hanna Brady’s birth date and the end of the war, she would have been a young teenager when she entered the concentration camp with this suitcase. What happened to her afterward? Did she survive?
Ishioka couldn’t answer. She vowed to the children of “Small Wings” that she would do her utmost to learn about Hanna Brady’s story. She wrote to the Auschwitz Holocaust Museum. They replied that they didn’t know about Hanna Brady’s situation. Ishioka then wrote to the Holocaust Museum in Israel, which responded that they had never heard of Hanna Brady, but suggested she inquire at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
The American museum also replied that they didn’t know. Just when she was about to lose hope, the Auschwitz Museum sent another brief message, stating they had found a list showing Hanna Brady was transferred from Theresienstadt. They knew nothing more.
Where is Theresienstadt?
It was March 2000. Although it was just a short clue, Ishioka felt excited. It was the only solid information she had. She began searching for materials and reading everything she could find about Theresienstadt. This unfamiliar name gradually became clear. Theresienstadt was a name given by the Nazis to a small Czech town called initially Terezin.
It was a charming town with two castles built in the 19th century to imprison military and political criminals. The Czech inhabitants had made it a beautiful place. After the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia, the entire town was walled off and guarded by soldiers, turning it into a Jewish ghetto. The town, originally home to 5,000 residents, became overcrowded with Jews forced to leave their homes. During World War II, 140,000 Jews lived there, including 15,000 Jewish children. Hanna Brady was one of them.
As Ishioka delved deeper, she learned more about the ghetto. She read about the terrible events that occurred there and how almost all the Jews, like Hanna Brady, were later transferred to even more horrific places like Auschwitz. However, she also read that the ghetto allowed for a slightly more relaxed way of life compared to concentration camps. The Jews in Theresienstadt had some freedom of movement within the walled town.
Among the Jews confined, many renowned scholars and artists taught the children various subjects, imparting knowledge and providing psychological relief through art. They taught music and drawing. Ishioka discovered that 4,500 drawings by Jewish children during their confinement in Terezin had been miraculously preserved. She wondered if any of Hanna Brady’s drawings were among them. Controlling her excitement, she wrote a letter to the Terezin Ghetto Museum.
Five drawings by Hanna Brady
A few weeks later, in April 2000, a large envelope from the Czech Republic arrived in Tokyo. The Terezin Museum replied that they didn’t know about Hanna Brady’s experiences. However, they confirmed that many drawings by Jewish children had been secretly preserved in the camp. Many of these works were on display at the Jewish Museum in Prague. Ishioka pulled out five photographs from the envelope. She could hardly believe her eyes. It was clear that these were children’s drawings. One was a colorful garden; the other four were pencil or charcoal sketches. Each drawing had “Hanna Brady” written in the upper right corner.
That summer, Ishioka organized an exhibition titled “The Holocaust Through Children’s Eyes.” As a small exhibition by a private museum, it attracted far more visitors than she had imagined, including many adults. The exhibition was a success. The most captivating items were Hanna Brady’s suitcase and her drawings. Naturally, everyone who saw them asked: “What kind of child was Hanna Brady? What did she look like? What happened to her?” Ishioka couldn’t answer these questions. She wrote again to the Terezin Museum, which replied that they only had the drawings and didn’t know the stories of the children who made them.
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