Object numberM1996/010:022
DescriptionHandwritten note on a torn piece of paper: Hanicko, We are returning to Prague at the end of July. In August I will be home and we will be expecting you. Invite your girlfriend from Vienna - I have no objections to that. Should we send you a dress (or suitcase?) We are really looking forward to your arrival, you little naughty one. We send you greeting and kisses. Helena. June 1947
Part of a collection of photographs, medical records, identity documents, postcards, letters, 1943 pocket book, hand-made leather book mark, deportation slips and yellow cloth Star of David donated by Hana Novotny (nee Lipa).
Hana Novotny (nee Lipa) was born 29 September 1926 in Jaromer, Czechoslovakia. She died 2011, aged 85, in Sydney, Australia. Her adolescence was marred by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. She and her family were affected by the antisemitism, daily deprivations and exclusion from mainstream Czech society as experienced by all Jews under the German yoke.
1940 was a turbulent year for 14-year-old Hana. Due to the Nazi’s segregationist decrees, she was prohibited from attending school, her father was arrested, and her mother died from cancer. Hana and her father—Jaroslav Lipa, were deported to the Theresienstadt “camp-ghetto” on 10 August 1942. She was employed in a leather factory making small money purses, wallets and bill holders. She made a book mark for her father, from the luggage the Germans confiscated from ghetto inmates. He never received it, having perished 10 September 1943 in Charles Square Police Prison, Prague, age 44. Hana was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. ‘Selected’ and fit for work she was sent to the Frauenlager (Women’s camp). There she forged life-sustaining relationships with Renee Konstant and Zdenka Loukova. These girls became her Lager Schwestern (camp sisters).
On 4 July 1944 they were transported to various labour camps in Upper Silesia. Hana found work and life to be particularly arduous, suffering hunger, back-breaking labour, continuous air raids, and the cruelty of female SS guards. Finally, they were transported to Bergen-Belsen. Conditions in the camp were horrific. She contracted typhoid fever and was severely ill for months. When she was well enough, she returned home to Jaromer in mid-July 1945 desperate for news about the fate of her family. Her moods varied, “up and down”, she vacillated from “hope to despair.” Her greatest fear— facing life alone, was allayed when she married Oldrich Novotny. She migrated to Sydney Australia in 1948.
Part of a collection of photographs, medical records, identity documents, postcards, letters, 1943 pocket book, hand-made leather book mark, deportation slips and yellow cloth Star of David donated by Hana Novotny (nee Lipa).
Hana Novotny (nee Lipa) was born 29 September 1926 in Jaromer, Czechoslovakia. She died 2011, aged 85, in Sydney, Australia. Her adolescence was marred by the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. She and her family were affected by the antisemitism, daily deprivations and exclusion from mainstream Czech society as experienced by all Jews under the German yoke.
1940 was a turbulent year for 14-year-old Hana. Due to the Nazi’s segregationist decrees, she was prohibited from attending school, her father was arrested, and her mother died from cancer. Hana and her father—Jaroslav Lipa, were deported to the Theresienstadt “camp-ghetto” on 10 August 1942. She was employed in a leather factory making small money purses, wallets and bill holders. She made a book mark for her father, from the luggage the Germans confiscated from ghetto inmates. He never received it, having perished 10 September 1943 in Charles Square Police Prison, Prague, age 44. Hana was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. ‘Selected’ and fit for work she was sent to the Frauenlager (Women’s camp). There she forged life-sustaining relationships with Renee Konstant and Zdenka Loukova. These girls became her Lager Schwestern (camp sisters).
On 4 July 1944 they were transported to various labour camps in Upper Silesia. Hana found work and life to be particularly arduous, suffering hunger, back-breaking labour, continuous air raids, and the cruelty of female SS guards. Finally, they were transported to Bergen-Belsen. Conditions in the camp were horrific. She contracted typhoid fever and was severely ill for months. When she was well enough, she returned home to Jaromer in mid-July 1945 desperate for news about the fate of her family. Her moods varied, “up and down”, she vacillated from “hope to despair.” Her greatest fear— facing life alone, was allayed when she married Oldrich Novotny. She migrated to Sydney Australia in 1948.
Production date 1947-06 - 1947-06
Subjectliberation
Object namenotes
Materialpaper
Dimensions
- width: 173.00 mm
height: 110.00 mm
Language
- Czech
Hanicko *
We are returning to Prague at the end of July. In August I will be home and we will be
expecting you. Invite your girlfriend from Vienna - I have no objections to that. Should we
send you a dress (or suitcase?) We are really looking forward to your arrival, you little
naughty one. We send you greeting and kisses.
Helena?
June 1947
* Translator's note: term of endearment, pet name
Credit lineSydney Jewish Museum Collection, Donated by Ms. Hana Novotny