Helena Kovanicova as a little girl

Helena Kovanicova as a little girl

In this photo I might be about five or six years old. I think that this photograph was taken on Letna in Prague. I vaguely remember that back then there was a wooden escalator there. It led from the riverbank up the hill onto Letna around where today the so-called Metronome is located, and earlier Stalin's statue stood. In my hand I'm most likely holding a balloon. Though in the photo I'm wearing a hat and gloves, I hated both, and I remember that my mother would always put my hat and gloves on me as I was leaving home, and I always took it all off as soon as I was out of sight. I'm wearing a coat that was most likely bought in the Hyrs clothing store in Prague, where our mother bought most clothing. Back then, instead of stocking pants we wore gaiters. As a small child I grew up in Prague in the Smichov quarter. We lived on Fibichova Street, which today is named Matousova. I don't remember much from that time. When I was about six, we moved to Brandys, where I began attending school.
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Centropa Collection acquired by USHMM

The Centropa archive has been acquired by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. 

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