On February 5, 2024, to commemorate the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust and the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity, the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa organized the opening of the exhibition entitled "The Story of Hana's Suitcase" combined with a literary evening with Mrs. Karen Levine, the Canadian author of the book of the same name.

The book recounts the sad story of Hana Brady, a Jewish girl from Nové Město in Moravia, who was killed in Auschwitz, and her older brother Jiří (George) Brady. He survived the hardships of the Nazi concentration camps and established a new life in Canada after the war. Thanks to the tremendous commitment of a Japanese teacher and her students, 55 years later he found his sister's briefcase and some reconciliation in the fact that their story is helping to educate thousands of children in dozens of countries - into whose languages the book Hana's suitcase has been translated - about the Holocaust.

The evening was opened by the Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Canada, Mr. Martin Tlapa. He recalled that although eight decades have passed since the horrors of the Holocaust, anti-Semitism remains a serious problem, and even today children continue to be innocent victims in conflicts around the world, from the terrorist attacks by Hamas on October 7, 2023, to the killing and kidnapping of Ukrainian children by Russian aggressors. Many are swayed by lies and contempt for human life. This is precisely why it is necessary to remember the Holocaust, where entire nations succumbed to totalitarian ideologies and the killing of children was a function of state policy of some regimes. He highlighted that this story connects the former Czechoslovakia, Japan, Israel and Canada, and welcomed the respective ambassadors in attendance.

The Ambassador of Japan to Canada Mr. Kanji Yamanouchi discussed the role of the Japanese teacher and researcher Ms. Fumiko Ishioka, who wanted to bring her students closer to the crimes of the Holocaust. She personally visited the Auschwitz memorial and obtained a suitcase from it for her students with the inscription "Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, Orphan". In the museum in Terezín, she subsequently managed to track down the sad fate of Hana Brady, to whom the briefcase belonged, and gradually discovered that Hana's brother Jiří Brady was the only survivor of the Holocaust from his entire family, after which he moved to Canada. The concern and resulting efforts that Japanese students have undertaken to ensure that the story is not forgotten is a promise of hope for the future.

The Ambassador of the State of Israel to Canada, Mr. Iddo Moed, stated in a personal recollection that his entire family was tragically affected by the Nazi rampage and his grandparents were victims of the Holocaust. Especially in today's era of resurgent anti-Semitism and intolerance, it is all the more important to remind even the youngest generations of the tragedy of the Holocaust. The book Hana’s Suitcase is a unique achievement in this respect, and the ambassador thanked the author for its preparation and the Czech Embassy for organizing the evening.

Ms. Karen Levine (*1955) is a Canadian writer and radio producer who has won two Peabody Awards for her radio documentaries. Her CBC radio documentary Hana's Suitcase won a gold medal at the New York International Radio Festival. Based on this documentary, she published the book "Hana's  Suitcase" in 2002. In an extremely vivid and colorful presentation, Ms Levine described the story of the Brady siblings. Hana came from a Jewish family from Nové Město in Moravia, where she lived together with her older brother Jiří and her parents. Her happy childhood ended with the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Nazi Germany in 1939. The Gestapo gradually arrested both of her parents and sent them to concentration camps. In 1942, she and her brother were deported to Terezín. In the fall of 1944, Jiří was transported to Auschwitz, followed by Hana, who was murdered in a gas chamber immediately after her arrival. Ms Levine also gave an engaging description of the enormous efforts and sometimes incredible coincidences that led Ms. Fumiko Ishioka to chart the story of the Bradys and eventually meet Jiří Brady in Canada. The meeting was the subject of a radio documentary program and subsequently of the book Hana's Suitcase, an international bestseller that won the Sydney Taylor Book Award, the Canadian Library Association's Children's Book of the Year Award, the Isaac Frischwasser Memorial Award, the Governor General's Award for English-language children's literature, and other awards. The book has been translated into more than four dozen languages and has spurred interest of thousands of children around the world  to learn about the Holocaust.

During the evening, guests viewed the exhibition "The Story of Hana's Suitcase". The exhibition was prepared by Mr. Lubomír Šula, who at the time of its creation was the director of the Center for Children and Youth in Hana's native Nové Město in Moravia, in cooperation with Ambassador Petr Válek, the permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the Council of Europe.

The exhibition will be open to the public at the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ottawa (251 Cooper Street, K2P0G2, Ottawa) until February 29, from Monday to Thursday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. It will also be displayed  in additional locations across  Canada throughout 2024.

Illustration videos - the story of Hana's briefcase:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=0EMol54u6hcvQfQ8&v=BUvz-CoeWr0&feature=youtu.be 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=dbsNeDFECOhmPFt9&v=TyzNTdsBoeE&feature=youtu.be