Hana and Elsa Weinerova

In this photo from June 1924 are my cousins Hana (younger) and Elsa (older) Weinerova from Pacov. Uncle Viktor Weiner, my father's brother, lived in Pacov with this wife Marie and his daughters Elsa and Hana. As a child, I liked going to his place during vacation, and used to play with Hanicka [Hana], whom I liked very much. Uncle Viktor had a leather goods factory; they used to make purses and suitcases. The factory burned down, and my uncle had to take out a large mortgage. We later lived with my aunt and cousins in Terezin during the war, where my uncle died. Everyone in the family perished in Auschwitz during the war, as they were included in the first so-called family transport. For six months prisoners in the family camp had so-called ?Sonderbehandlung" or ?special treatment? ? families weren?t split up, they for example didn't shave our hair off, and they isolated us in camp BIIb. However, ?Sonderbehandlung? was planned for only six months, followed by death in the gas chambers. The first transport was gassed without prior selection in the night from 8th to 9th of March 1944, on President Masaryk's birthday.