The Current - How a suitcase in Tokyo held the story of a girl killed in Auschwitz

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Former CBC Radio producer Karen Levine has been named to the Order of Canada for her groundbreaking journalism. We listen to her 2001 documentary Hana's Suitcase. It tells the story of a girl murdered in Auschwitz in 1944, and how her suitcase turned up in Tokyo 57 years later. 

This message comes from Viking, committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on a Viking longship with thoughtful service, destination-focused dining, and cultural enrichment on board and on shore. With a variety of voyages and sailing dates to choose from, now is the time to explore Europe's waterways. Learn more at Viking.com. This is a CBC Podcast. Hello, I'm Matt Galloway and this is The Current Podcast. This week we've been paying tribute to some of the new members of the Order of Canada and this morning we shine a spotlight on our former CBC colleague, Karen Levine. Karen is being recognized for her four-decade-long career at CBC Radio, where the Governor-General's

citation says, Her program leadership, groundbreaking documentaries, and amplification of women's voices made an unmistakable and much-heralded impact. She's also been honored for her book, Hannah's Suitcase. That book began as a powerful CBC Radio documentary that Karen Levine produced in 2001.

It tells the story of a suitcase that belonged to Hannah Brady, born in Czechoslovakia in 1931, deported in 1942 and killed at Auschwitz in 1944. She was just 13 years old. The Children's Holocaust Education Center in Tokyo acquired that suitcase in the year 2000. No further information about Hana came with it. The director of the center at that time, Fumiko Ishioka, made it her mission to scour the world to find out more about Hana's story and her search brought her to Toronto and George Brady. George Brady was Hana's older brother, the only member of their immediate family

to survive the Holocaust. Here told by Fumiko Ishioka and George Brady is the astonishing story of Hana's suitcase. This suitcase, it looks really old, but maybe the materials are very nice and it's still, maybe you can use it still as a suitcase. But the keys are broken and if you open it you see this nice colored paper lining inside. Of course it doesn't have anything in it, it's an empty suitcase. The first time I heard about the suitcase was from some friends who went to Auschwitz and it was displayed in the museum in Auschwitz on the pile of other suitcases. So I took my at that time 14 year old daughter and we went together.

And when we got to the museum, so we looked for the suitcase and couldn't find it. Then I wrote to Auschwitz and about two months later, I got a photograph of this suitcase. That's what I got from Auschwitz about two years ago. It's quite big. The size is about 60 and 40 centimeters. The color is brown and on the one side and then there's also her birthday, May 16th 1931, and there's also a German word, Weisenkind, meaning orphan. That's all the information inscribed on the suitcase.

The writing on the suitcase is definitely not my sister's because she would have never written herself Weissenkind or Orfan. We were always a family and we always thought that when the war ends we will all get together again. It had this name and the birthday so I looked at her birthday and then

found out that she was 13 that time. So it was a little girl. So I really wanted to find out about her, what kind of girl she was, where she was born, what kind of girl she was, where she was born, what kind of family she had. And I knew that she died in Auschwitz, so I just wanted to find out what kind of girl she was before the Holocaust. Actually, I was born in 1928 and my sister was born three years later.

We lived in a small town in Moravia. There were only two Jewish families. I was the only boy and my sister was the only Jewish girl in town. So all our friends were Christian. We were very integrated. My father was a voluntary fireman, he was a football player, he became the chairman of the football team. There was a lot of skiing in our town, it was very famous for cross-country skiing racers. He was the announcer and he

played in the local theatre and my mother was a very vivacious lady and she laughed a lot, very loud always, we liked that. And we had a lot of people coming to our house, artists, painters, which my father, the young one, he supported, and poets and writers, because they always knew there was a good talk and good food. At the same time there were some poor people living behind town and my mother was always sending them some clothes or some food and Hanna was the deliverer and she loved to do it and kept bugging my mother if she can bring some more stuff to these people.

So we were I would say very loving family. Remember my parents worked very hard, they both worked six days a week, we had a store, but on the seventh day was always on a Sunday we climbed into the bed with mother and father, I was always with mother and my little sister was with my father. Anna was a strong girl and I know it because when we were fighting she wouldn't always lose. And she had a blonde hair, blue eyes and I think a pretty, very pretty round face. We used to play a lot together, we had a big garden and through the garden was going a creek so we always played the navy.

In winter we again built winter forts out of snow and she was a good sports person. She skied, we skied cross country. She was skating, once I remember she got a beautiful skating outfit. It was red and it had fur on the end of it, on the end of the sleeves. and she was learning how to become an expert skater. And although she was only eight or nine years old she was pretty good at it and we all admired her. She learned turning around and I don't know pirouettes,ettes whatever I don't know the terms for these things but she certainly Enjoyed it and we all enjoyed watching her We had a lot of a lot of fun

Our center targets young people in Japan So we organized this traveling exhibition the Holocaust seen through children's eyes We wanted these artifacts that used to belong to children. And I went to Auschwitz in 1999, November, asked for a loan of some children's materials, children's items. Actually, I specifically asked a shoe, this little shoe, and I remember I asked for a suitcase because suitcase that really tells you a story of how these children who used to live happily with their family were transported and then again transported again and Were allowed to take only one

suitcase so it Shows this journey So I thought an object like suitcase would be a very important item to to really like suitcase, would be a very important item to really let children in Japan learn what happened to children in the Holocaust. We had a very happy time until suddenly the Nazis appeared on the horizon, first in Germany, then in Austria, then the Sudetenland, and then took over the rest of Czechoslovakia.

From then on one restriction after the other came into effect. First we were allowed to shop only in certain stores, we were allowed to shop only at certain time, we are not allowed to go to movies. In 1940 I was 12, my sister was 9, we were not allowed to go to school anymore. And eventually we had to wear a yellow star. Then my mother was arrested in the spring of 41. My father was then arrested in the fall of 41 and we lucky enough had an uncle who was Christian living in the 14th of May 1942 to go to Theresienstadt. On the 16th of May, that's two days later, when we were in this building waiting for to be deported, my sister celebrated her 11th birthday? First I got this suitcase from Auschwitz so I wrote to them again and asked for any information they have but they said that they couldn't help me

in any way and then I tried other big Holocaust museums in one in Israel, Yad Vashem, and I tried the other huge Holocaust museum in Washington DC and they couldn't give me anything. But this Museum of Auschwitz told me that she was transported from Terezín in Czechoslovakia. I was lucky to find that. I knew that the girls, little girls who were at Terezín, I knew that they drew paintings. So I thought that Hana must be one of those girls and she must have left some drawings. So I wrote to the Terezín Ghetto Museum. I was so excited when they sent me these four pieces of Hanna's drawings. These drawings had her name. It was really, really so exciting. But when we opened the exhibition with this suitcase, it was last year in July,

that was all we had. In Theresienstadt we stayed for over two years. My sister lived in this girl's home and I lived in the boy's home and we saw each other as much as we could. and we saw each other as much as we could. I always felt responsible for her so I tried to tell her what to do and she at one point got really sick, she got encephalitis and I got really worried because that could leave a damaged brain and I just was horrified that I would bring her home and she wouldn't

be in top shape. As it turned out she recovered and as I found out through Japan lately that she was even painting secretly being taught and her teacher was one of the famous German artists her name was Friedlika Brandeis one of the member of the Bauhaus and Gropius said about this lady would she have lived she would have been one of the greatest female artists of the century. I found out through the suitcase which turned up in Japan that they have four of her paintings.

I never knew that any of these paintings existed, so I asked them to send me a copy of it, which they did, and then I asked for an original copy from the museum in Prague, which I just got about three weeks ago. Viking. Committed to exploring the world in comfort. Journey through the heart of Europe on a Viking longship, with thoughtful service and cultural enrichment, on board and on shore. Learn more at v Viking.com. Essential reading for everyone, Health for All is the instant number one national bestseller by Jane Philpott,

former federal minister of health and Ontario lead on primary care. With over six million Canadians lacking basic healthcare, Philpott offers a prescription for a healthier society focusing on hope, belonging, and purpose. Available in hardcover and audiobook, narrated by Jane Philpott. I was desperate to get the photo of her. So I thought that if somebody has information on her, that has to be the Terezín Museum. So I wrote to people there again but the

answer was the same. So I decided that I just go to see if there's anything I can find out. We were in Terezín for two years and the war seemed to be turning against Germany and they decided to send 10 transport out east as it turned out to Auschwitz. I was called in the first transport which was in September of 44 and my sister was in the one next to the last one. I was fortunate enough to pass the test because at that time they needed workers so I looked strong enough and I just said that I am healthy so I passed the selection and went to work. My sister went in there next to the last transport and that was on the 23rd of October 1944 and since she was too small for work so she was killed the next day.

Before my sister went, just the day before the transport she asked my cousin to do her hair, do because she wanted to, she wanted to look nice when she will meet me. Instead when she got to Auschwitz they cut her hair and then they killed her. I had no idea what happened to my sister after I left Terezín so only when after the war when I got home to my uncle and aunt, my aunt who was in Terezín too came back and explained that Hanna went to Auschwitz. I was still hoping that somehow somewhere she will appear but once I met a friend of hers and she just said point blank she just went to gas which I just nearly fainted and that's how I found out. When I got there I was really lucky to be able to meet with this one lady at the museum. She was trying to help me in any way.

And we were both looking at this list of names of people who were transported from Terezín to somewhere else, and there I found the name of Hana. And right next to it, we found another Brady. So I asked, could this be her family? And then we looked at the birthdays and it was, there was three years difference. So they told me that usually the families are listed together so she was sure that he must be her brother and I asked them do you have any idea where and I mean what he's doing because from the list you can tell that he survived. Hana had a little check

to show that she died, but he didn't have that mark. So I asked her if there's any way I can find out about him, and she looked really sad because she knew that I was so desperate. But then she went back into her desk and she showed me another document which had names of Mr. George Brady, Hunter's brother, with the name of his bunkmate. They shared the bed in the terracing camp and she knew Mr. Brady's bunkmate. She knew that Mr. Brady's bunkmate is living in Prague. I was supposed to leave the next day but I ran back to Prague and ran into this Jewish museum in Prague and there was this woman who had been helping me find Hannah's drawings. So she made a few phone calls to find out Mr. Brady's friend. And then he came over to see me at the South-East. We had only half an hour, but from him I was able to get

his Debradies address in Canada. And suddenly, in last September, I got a letter from Japan, a big envelope. I was wondering who would write to me from Japan, and when I opened it, I couldn't believe it. I just was stunned, you know, I just couldn't believe it. It's to the credit and incredible perseverance of Fumiko Ishioka, the director of the museum, that she decided to find who the owner was and she went through a lot of problems and

challenges to find it, but she did manage. Right after I went home I wrote to Mr. Brady, but still at that time I wasn't sure if I could get any response from him. This might remind him of bitter memories and he might not want to hear such a thing anymore. But a few weeks later I got a nice letter from him and also these beautiful photos of Hana and I just screamed at that time and my hands were shaking and as I read the letter but the thing is that I was of course really excited to finally find Hana and find out what kind of girl she was when she was in Happy Days and what she liked to do. It was unbelievable but what really excited me is that Hana's brother survived

arrived. And he now has such a beautiful family. I was so happy about that. Last week Fumiko Ishiyoka arrived and I invited her to stay with us in our house. She brought me paintings from kids there and a video again addressed to me and Hana and I couldn't believe how involved these children were, how taken they were by this story, Hanna and her suitcase. It was a very, very moving experience from an absolutely unexpected part of the world. In Japan the Holocaust is so far away, some people don't see any connection whatsoever but when they look at the suitcase these children were really shocked that she was my age and that really helped them a lot to really focus on this one little life that was lost and they could really relate her to themselves and really try to think about why such thing happened to a girl like her and why Jewish people and why children, they then realized

that there were one and a half million children like Hanna. Because of the suitcase, it is very strange to me that nearly 60 years ago this tragedy happened and now suddenly it appears in part of the world where I would have, that would be the last place in the, on the earth where I would have expected that it would appear. And it certainly changed a lot of my life and my family because everybody is affected by it. We have a young daughter who is 17 years old and she is called Lara Hanna and she is actually going with me to Japan in March of this year

because we would like to meet some of these kids and help them to find a way of changing the world into a better world. We have a group of children called Small Wings, my center. They are aged from 7 to 18. Even though they didn't know anything about Hanna, they were so attracted to the suitcase and they wanted to write a story on her. They invited their friends and they did a little performance using the suitcase. This one girl, 18-year-old did a little performance using the suitcase. This one girl, 18 year old girl, read the story they wrote.

Hannah Brady, 13 years old, the owner of this suitcase. 54 years ago, May 18th, 1942, it was two days after Hannah's 11th birthday. She was taken to Terezín in Czechoslovakia. October 23, 1944, crammed into the freight train, she was sent to Auschwitz. She was taken to the gas chamber right after. People were allowed to take only one suitcase with them. I wonder what Hana put in her suitcase. Hana would have been 69 years old now, but her life stopped when she was 13.

I wonder what kind of girl she was. A few drawings she made at Terezín. These are the only things she left for us. What do these drawings tell us? Happy memories of her family? Her dream and hope for the future. Why was she killed? There was one reason. She was born Jewish. Name, Hannah Brady. Date of birth, May 16th, 1931, orphan. Actually, when our little daughter was born, I wanted her to be called Hannah, but my wife said that nobody should live somebody else's life, she should live her own life and I'm very grateful that she suggested that so we called her Lara Hanna and Lara Hanna knows a lot about the fate of Hanna and my fate and our family and when we

went to Auschwitz it was a very emotional visit and we somehow felt better that we lit three candles for these three. My mother, father and Hanna. I always feel that I am a well adjusted person and I got over the war reasonably well but there is one thing I cannot get over and that is my sister Hanna. And with this suitcase it flared up again much more not only with me but with the rest of the family because suddenly we have a lot to remember and a lot to talk about and suddenly the aunt to my sons is somebody very close to them and we will never forget her.

We small wings will tell every child in Japan what happened to Hana. We, small wings, will never forget what happened to one and a half million Jewish children. We children can make a difference to build peace in the world so the Holocaust will never happen again. By small wings. December wings December 2000 Tokyo Japan. That's Fumiko Ishiyoka. George Brady died in 2019. He was 90 years old. Hanna's Suitcase was produced in 2001 by then CBC radio producer Karen Levine, who's just been honored with the Order of Canada.