Hanus Sensky

This photo was probably taken in Mohelno in the 1920s. It is a picture of my uncle Hanus Sensky, my mother's brother. Hanus was born in 1910 in Mohelno. He finished textile industrial secondary school and became an expert on textile. His wife was a Sudeten German named Margareta; thanks to her he wasn't transported to Terezin before 1945. Together they had a son named Petr who was born in 1939. In 1948 they emigrated. Hanus was a fairly well-known textile expert and two British businessmen, who bought textile equipment in Bohemia and wanted to start up production in Rhodesia, turned to him with the request to choose reliable equipment and mediate the sale. Then they told him that they would like to take him on board. My uncle was afraid that it wouldn't be possible because after the communist take-over no one could leave the country freely. They told my uncle: 'look here, they are interested in us because we are buying equipment and because they will have other orders with us.' In a flash he arranged passports and travel permits for Hanus, Margareta and my cousin to travel out of the country. Hanus and his family then moved to Rhodesia and my uncle became the manager of a textile company and later became independent. However, Rhodesia became the totalitarian state of Zimbabwe and they chased out the white people and took their land and property. In 1966 my uncle died and my aunt moved to London to be with her son, Petr.