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Authors: Karen Levine
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expectant faces of all those Japanese children for whom Hana had become so important, so alive.
George realized that, in the end, one of Hana’s wishes
had
come true. Hana had become a teacher. Because of her — her suitcase and her story — thousands of Japanese children were learning about what George believed to be the most important values in the world: tolerance, respect, and compassion. What a gift Fumiko and the children have given me, he thought. And what honor they have given Hana.
Fumiko asked the children to sit in a circle. She beamed with pride as, one by one, they presented George with their drawings and poems about Hana. When they had finished, Maiko stood up, took a deep breath, and read a poem aloud.
Hana Brady, thirteen years old, was the owner of this suitcase.
Fifty-five years ago, May 18, 1942 — two days after Hana’s eleventh birthday — she was taken to Terezin in Czechoslovakia.
October 23, 1944, crowded 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 sixty-nine years old today, but her life stopped when she was thirteen.
I wonder what kind of girl she was.
A few drawings she made at Terezin — these are the only things she left for us.
What do these drawings tell us?
Happy memories of her family?
Dreams and hopes for the future?
Why was she killed?
There was one reason.
She was born Jewish.
Name: Hana Brady. Date of Birth: May 16, 1931. Orphan.
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 in building peace in the world — so that the Holocaust will never happen again.
By Small Wings, December 2000, Tokyo, Japan.
Translated from Japanese by Fumiko Ishioka.
While Maiko reads on the left, members of the Small Wings hold up signs saying “Let’s Learn, Think and Act [to create peace] for the 21st century.”
Afterword
The story of
Hana’s Suitcase
continues to hold surprises for us. On a trip to Poland in March 2004, George and Fumiko learned that Hana’s original suitcase was destroyed, along with many other objects from the Holocaust, in a suspicious fire in Birmingham, England in 1984.
The museum at Auschwitz created a replica — or copy — of the suitcase from a photograph. It was that replica which Fumiko and the Small Wings received in Tokyo. As a matter of policy Auschwitz tells borrowers when an object on loan is not the original. This time a mistake was made. George and Fumiko did not know that the suitcase was a replica until the recent trip to Poland.
On reflection, everyone involved is grateful that the curators at Auschwitz went to the trouble of creating a faithful replica of the suitcase. Without it, Fumiko would never have searched for Hana. She would never have found George. And we would never have the story of
Hana’s Suitcase
.
Hana’s Suitcase
is now being read around the world by hundreds of thousands of children, in more than twenty languages. Fumiko, George and the suitcase continue to travel, sharing Hana’s story, the lessons of history and a message of tolerance.
Acknowledgements
FIRST AND FOREMOST , my thanks go to George Brady and Fumiko Ishioka. This is their story. Each of them, with remarkable dedication and generosity, helped to bring the book together. They are very tenacious and compassionate people, driven by the desire to make the world a better place, and to bring attention and honor to the memory of Hana Brady. I salute them.
My heart jumped the first time I learned of Hana’s suitcase in an article by Paul Lungen in the
Canadian Jewish News
. The story so touched me that I decided to come out of “exile” and produce my first radio documentary in a dozen years. The result was “Hana’s Suitcase,”
George realized that, in the end, one of Hana’s wishes
had
come true. Hana had become a teacher. Because of her — her suitcase and her story — thousands of Japanese children were learning about what George believed to be the most important values in the world: tolerance, respect, and compassion. What a gift Fumiko and the children have given me, he thought. And what honor they have given Hana.
Fumiko asked the children to sit in a circle. She beamed with pride as, one by one, they presented George with their drawings and poems about Hana. When they had finished, Maiko stood up, took a deep breath, and read a poem aloud.
Hana Brady, thirteen years old, was the owner of this suitcase.
Fifty-five years ago, May 18, 1942 — two days after Hana’s eleventh birthday — she was taken to Terezin in Czechoslovakia.
October 23, 1944, crowded 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 sixty-nine years old today, but her life stopped when she was thirteen.
I wonder what kind of girl she was.
A few drawings she made at Terezin — these are the only things she left for us.
What do these drawings tell us?
Happy memories of her family?
Dreams and hopes for the future?
Why was she killed?
There was one reason.
She was born Jewish.
Name: Hana Brady. Date of Birth: May 16, 1931. Orphan.
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 in building peace in the world — so that the Holocaust will never happen again.
By Small Wings, December 2000, Tokyo, Japan.
Translated from Japanese by Fumiko Ishioka.
While Maiko reads on the left, members of the Small Wings hold up signs saying “Let’s Learn, Think and Act [to create peace] for the 21st century.”
Afterword
The story of
Hana’s Suitcase
continues to hold surprises for us. On a trip to Poland in March 2004, George and Fumiko learned that Hana’s original suitcase was destroyed, along with many other objects from the Holocaust, in a suspicious fire in Birmingham, England in 1984.
The museum at Auschwitz created a replica — or copy — of the suitcase from a photograph. It was that replica which Fumiko and the Small Wings received in Tokyo. As a matter of policy Auschwitz tells borrowers when an object on loan is not the original. This time a mistake was made. George and Fumiko did not know that the suitcase was a replica until the recent trip to Poland.
On reflection, everyone involved is grateful that the curators at Auschwitz went to the trouble of creating a faithful replica of the suitcase. Without it, Fumiko would never have searched for Hana. She would never have found George. And we would never have the story of
Hana’s Suitcase
.
Hana’s Suitcase
is now being read around the world by hundreds of thousands of children, in more than twenty languages. Fumiko, George and the suitcase continue to travel, sharing Hana’s story, the lessons of history and a message of tolerance.
Acknowledgements
FIRST AND FOREMOST , my thanks go to George Brady and Fumiko Ishioka. This is their story. Each of them, with remarkable dedication and generosity, helped to bring the book together. They are very tenacious and compassionate people, driven by the desire to make the world a better place, and to bring attention and honor to the memory of Hana Brady. I salute them.
My heart jumped the first time I learned of Hana’s suitcase in an article by Paul Lungen in the
Canadian Jewish News
. The story so touched me that I decided to come out of “exile” and produce my first radio documentary in a dozen years. The result was “Hana’s Suitcase,”
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