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A Girl's Power Beyond The Grave
In "Hands Suitcase," a young Holocaust victim still teaches lessons decades later.
DAVID TECHNER
Special to the Jewish News
0
ne year ago, at the conclu-
sion of my mother's burial,
my wife Ilene and I stood
silently at the graves of my
father and our daughter Alicia with our
children, An, Chad and Stephanie.
Ari was 16 months old when my
father died, but Alicia's death preceded
the births of each of our children.
That evening, Ari requested a family
meeting. Acting in his "big" brother
role, An articulated a sense of empti-
ness standing at Alicia's grave. He
explained that the inscription:
"Alicia Joy Techner
Beloved Daughter, Granddaughter and
Great-Granddaughter
May 18, 1977 - Jan. 19, 1978"
was lacking the word "sister."
We stated the obvious — that they
had not been born when she died.
Their rebuttal simply was that they
knew the impact Alicia had on them
individually and collectively as a family
and believed that this reality should be
reflected on her stone.
On Tuesday, May 4, the 23rd annual
Alicia Joy Techner Memorial Parenting
Conference will present the
story Hands Suitcase. This
touching and compelling
book brings three worlds
together, spanning seven
decades.
Hana Brady died almost
60 years ago upon her
arrival at Auschwitz. Her
suitcase arrived 55 years
later in Tokyo, Japan, with
Techner
the inscription: Hana Brady,
May 16, 1931, WAISENKIND
(German for orphan). The suitcase was
sent to Fumiko Ishioka, the curator of
the Tokyo Holocaust Education
Resource Center, a response from the
Auschwitz Museum. The suitcase was
among many articles to be used to
teach Japanese children of the horrors
of the Holocaust.
The suitcase came with no informa-
tion other than the inscription on the
outside. Who was Hana Brady? What
happened to her? Did she survive? Is
she still alive? Does she have family?
Were they all killed in the horrors of
the Holocaust?
The quest for answers was carried on
a world away. George Brady, Hana's
only surviving relative, receives a letter
postmarked from Tokyo. In explaining
her role at the Resource Center, Ishioka
states she is in possession of Hands
.
Suitcase and requests infor-
mation about Hana, pho-
tos, stories, etc. "Please for-
give me if my letter hurts
you, reminding you of your
past difficult experiences.
"Children here do not
have a chance to learn
about the Holocaust, but
we believe it is our respon-
sibility to let our next gen-
eration learn the lessons of
the Holocaust so that such a tragedy
would never be repeated again.
"I was wondering if you would kind-
ly be able to tell us about Hana's story
...; anything that would help children
here feel close to you and Hana, to
understand what prejudice, intolerance
and hatred did to young Jewish chil-
dren."
George was stunned. Such amazing
connections and strange coincidences
had brought three worlds together: the
children of Japan, George in Canada
and the lost world of a Jewish girl from
Czechoslovakia who died so long ago.
The conference will bring to Temple
Israel George Brady, Fumiko Ishioka,
Karen Levine (the author of Hanas
Suitcase) and of course, Hands suitcase.
It has been almost 60 years since
Hana died. Ilene and I will stand as
one with George Brady with the sense
of pride that two girls who died so
young continue to impact the world
they left behind in ways that none of us
could have imagined.
Our presenters will speak to approxi-
mately 500 fourth-sixth-grade Sunday
school students at Temple Israel and
another 300-plus at Temple Israel's
Monday night school. Monday and
Tuesday, Hands Suitcase will be present-
ed to more than 1,000 middle and
high school kids whose schools accept-
ed our invitation to hear this extraordi-
nary story.
Their visit will conclude as we hope
to welcome over 1,000 people to the
23rd annual Alicia Joy Techner
Memorial Parenting Conference.
Ati, Chad and Stephanie delivered a
powerful message as they articulated
Alicia's legacy to them, even though
they never met her. They know that her
_presence in our lives helped to shape
who they are today — and for that
they are grateful.
Alicia's grave marker now contains
the word "sister," placed at her grave
one week after our family meeting.
Hana Brady dreamed of being a
teacher. Ilene and I are touched that in
Alicia's memory, 60 years after her
death, we are a small part of making
Hands dream a reality. ❑
The Neverending Story
How a chance stop in Europe changed "Hands Suitcase" author's life.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor
hen Karen Levine was a
little girl, memories of
the Holocaust were still
so fresh that no one
knew quite what to say about it. So
there were a handful of books, a lot
of stumbling and, most of all, silence.
And certainly no one went to
Germany. Why would you want to go
there? It was the very paradigm of
evil, a land where even new flowers
seemed to reek with the scent of
death. It was no place for a family
vacation.
When Karen Levine and her par-
ents went to Europe — Karen was 13
years old, and she knew next to noth-
ing about the Nazis — it never
crossed their minds to stop in
Germany.
Then they saw two hitchhikers
along the road, and they stopped to
pick them up. The hitchhikers were
German, looking for a ride home.
"So we ended up in Germany,"
Levine says. "And while there, my
parents decided to visit a concentra-
tion camp. It was a life-changing visit
for me."
What she saw- at the camp's muse-
urn — those pictures for which there
are still no words — remains with her
to this day. "I will carry the images
from the museum all
my life," she says.
So perhaps it is no
surprise that a small
article in the Canadian
Jewish News attracted
Levine's attention
more than 30 years
later. That article
would lead to the pub-
lication of Levine's
first book, Hana's
Suitcase, the story of a
Levine
determined Japanese
museum curator,
Fumiko Ishioka, and a little girl who
died decades before Fumiko was even
born. Hands story will be the focus
of several programs at
Temple Israel, including a
presentation open to the
public.
What If? a
After her trip to Germany,
Levine remembers coming
home and reading.
"I read voraciously, any-
thing I could about the
Holocaust," she says. "I just
read and I never stopped."
For Chanukah, she passed on pres-
ents of books about girls growing up
NEVERENDING STORY on page 32
TaT
• 4/30
2004
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