"This is a book by La Fontaine in Hebrew.I drew the illustrations for this book here in Prague. I'll show you some inspiration from Prague. For example, this (fable). This one is about a shoemaker. The shoemaker is happy and keeps singing all the time even though he doesn't even have his own shoes. This keeps the merchant from sleeping, so he finally gives him money to make him stop singing. The shoemaker is unhappy that he can't sing. Eventually, he gives him his money back because he rather wants to be poor and happy."
"I have many names (laughs). Today, my name in Israel is Hana Alisa Omer. I was born in Slovakia as Alžběta Loewyová. My parents survived the Holocaust, my mother was in Auschwitz, she experienced the death march and miraculously came out of it alive. Also my father was in labor camps. When he got out, he weighted about forty kilos. It was a miracle that he got back."
"Maybe it's also because of my nature that I don't identify with places. I lived for 46 years in Israel and now I'm in a situation where I don't have a home there because my house burned down. Half of my family lives in Prague. (...) I still feel like I belong to Israel. It has become my home. It's also because I'm in greater control of the language, certainly much greater than Czech (or Slovak). Presently, I live between two worlds. But I started to draw Prague (laughs)."
(Did you speak Hungarian at home?) "But I went to Slovak schools. My mother tongue is Hungarian, but at home we also spoke German. Nowadays, people are slowly beginning to speak Hungarian again in the region. Although I didn't speak Slovak, my parents sent me to Slovak schools. Generally, Jews adapt to the country in which they live. My parents did that as well. Originally, it was Austria-Hungary, so they spoke German and Hungarian. Then it was Czechoslovakia. During the war, it was crazy - one day it was Hungary, the next day Slovakia and then it kept changing all the time."
"I had no problems with my Jewish origin (i.e. anti-Semitism - note by the author). My brother, however, experienced much more, the boys scold each other much more. As a Jewish family, we kept the Jewish holidays and I knew that I was different. I grew up with the feeling that I was different, that I was an outsider. The feeling stayed with me for a long time, and even in Israel I felt that way. "
The Israeli painter and graphic artist Hana Alisa Omer was born Alžběta Loewyová in 1947 in Dunajská Streda in southern Slovakia in a Jewish family.Both of her parents were lucky enough to survive the Holocaust of WWII. Her native language is Hungarian but since her early childhood, she attended Slovak schools. She graduated in Bratislava from the high school of art and industry (ŠUP).In 1967, she went with her mother to visit her aunt in Israel and decided to stay there. In Israel, she was awarded a scholarship to the Bezalel Art Academy in Jerusalem, where she studied graphic design.Later she worked as a graphic designer in a publishing house and at the same time she was also active as a freelance artist. In recent years, she regularly spends several months a year in the Czech Republic, where her brother, nephew and son live and work. Hana Alisa Omer is interested in yoga, Kabbalah, mysticism and Eastern religions.
