July, 2017

Dear family and any other random readers of The Hachenburgs of Prague:

Here is the first of many additions and corrections to come.  Pure good luck for this find!

During a recent visit to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC, I went to the research department to ask if they had any new information regarding Hanuš Hachenburg or his parents.  Of course, I am always hoping someone will discover an authenticated picture of him.  That did not happen. I’ll keep looking.

But many records from parts of Europe are still being uncovered and digitized, and the staff was most helpful.  The gentleman at the desk told me something very important for us all.  I am surprised that none of my Prague contacts, or the “boys” who knew Hanuš in the orphanage or Terezín, ever told me the following information concerning deportation numbers. See page 59 in the book for my original understanding of these details.

The deportation transport numbers for Hanuš and his mother are well known.  Eliška left Prague in June 1942, and Hanuš left Prague (Belgická St. orphanage) in October 1942.
Remember that his orphanage friend Leo Lowy told me that he had seen Eliška visit Hanuš in the orphanage.  Leo did not ever see her in Terezín he said, but we know Hanuš and Eliška were there at the same time, and probably did have some contact.

When the transports to Auschwitz came, mother and son are listed as going on the same day, December 18, 1943.  Leo told me he and others were surprised, because Hanuš was one of the first boys in their room to go. 

Hanuš’ transport number is Ds-677.  Eliška’s number is Ds-676.  I always thought that meant that there were two different transports that day (way over 1000 per transport) and that they were not together.  I wondered if either one knew the other was going that day.  Did mother and son ever have a moment together again, as they surely were not together once they got to Auschwitz.  None of the people we know from Prague, or who knew Hanuš at that time, ever corrected me!

The wonderful gentleman at the Museum’s research desk casually said,

“He was 677 and she was 676, so they were right next to each other on transport Ds.”

What a sadly wonderful revelation for me and the rest of us, family members who have become terribly attached to our little kid.  Did Eliška ask for him to go with her?  Leo told me many times that the kids, at least, did not really know what would happen in Auschwitz.  In any event, no matter how horrible the ride, mother and son were together for a while.

Surely they were separated once they got to Auschwitz-Birkenau.  She to the women’s barracks, he to the kid’s dorm. They may have seen each other a bit as they were part of the “family camp” area that had been set up in case the Red Cross tried to trace what happened to Terezín inmates who had been deported to Auschwitz.

Of course, the final outcome is the same, but for me, at least, it is good to know mother and son were together for some time on the train, they each knew where the other was.