In 1938, Hana was a 13-year old girl living in Prague. She had a cozy childhood with her younger brother and her parents. Her father owned a children’s clothing store right on the Main Square and both sets of her grandparents lived in Kolín, a small town just an hour train ride away. During the days she went to school and by the time she was a teenager, she was fluent in French, German and her native Czech. She loved to read and spend time with her friends. When she wasn’t in school or with her family, she was dedicated to her Zionist Youth Group; the friends involved referred to themselves as the chaverim (which means friends in Hebrew). They would attend summer camp together and learn how to be pioneers, practicing stuffing mattresses and pillows with straw and using just one pot for all of their cooking and cleaning. They daydreamed of one day traveling to Palestine and helping create kibbutzim.

But in 1939, the world was becoming an increasingly scary place, especially for the Jewish people. Hitler, who was elected six years before in neighboring Germany was changing everything for the people of Europe. He was occupying land and dissolving governments and anti-semitism was growing, dramatically shifting from prejudice to discrimination and persecution. For a long time, the people of Czechoslovakia believed that it would never happen there. They believed that because their government was a democracy and because they valued arts and education and were a fairly secular society, that they would be protected. But, as history has shown, that was not true. In March of 1939, Hitler and his army marched into Czechoslovakia and Hana’s happy life disappeared; the war hadn’t even begun. Her school was shut down and stores began putting up signs saying that Jews were not allowed. Ration cards were given and groceries which were once so normal to buy, became impossible to find. Jewish families were moved into ghettos and forced to live in small quarters with one another. No one at that time could imagine what would come next.

But, Hana was one of the lucky ones. In 1939, when she was 14, she received permission to leave Czechoslovakia; it was like winning the lottery. Her and many of the chaverim would be sent to Denmark, a country that was not yet occupied. The Danish government agreed to take in the teens so they could continue learning their pioneering skills which they were so dedicated to practicing. In October of 1939, she stood on the platform of Prague’s Main Train Station and kissed her parents and younger brother goodbye. She did not know it then, but she would never see them again.