Zdenka Husserlová

I came over together with 24 children, and several of them were from Terezín. I did not know them. I only met them once we were in England, I don’t even remember these children from the chateau in Olešovice. Stepbrother and sister from Cologne, others were from Vienna or from other parts of Austria, don’t know where from exactly. They were children from Terezín like me, but I did not know them until we actually started living in Windemere. I had not known them while in the chateau, I don’t know how they gathered us to fly us to England in this bomber plane.

My name is Zdenka Husserlová, English people call me Zenka. I was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia, on 6th February 1939. I went with my mother to Terezín, well, first I went with my mother to Zdíkov in 1942 or 1941. I was told that it was because my father wanted me to get out of Prague where I was in greater danger. He was meanwhile sent in the first or second transport to Lodz in Poland. One night, Nazis came to Zdíkov and found three Jewish families there and we were sent to Terezín.

I don’t remember my mother, I was told she must have been ill. When I was liberated in May 1945, I was 6 years and a half . A child of this age normally remembers how their mothers look. When I came to England I had no idea how my mother looked like. I have no photograph and it has been my wish all my life to have a photo of her. After fifty years I saw the photograph of my mother for the first time. I just need to go back a little bit. How I got this photograph? I placed a notice in Givat Chaim (Beit Terezín - auth.´s note) in Israel in 1986. Věra Hájková who had looked after me in toddler’s house in Terezín got this notice because the paper somehow got from Israel to Czechoslovakia. She read my name and she said to her husband: ‘I’m sure that’s little Zdenička that I looked after.’

Later on we moved to the second beautiful house in Lingfield in Surrey. I wish we would’ve really been allowed to speak our mother tongue. But Alice (Golberger) was so against anything that had to do something with our past. She herself spoke German to her colleagues. When she asked us if we understood German, I said no, But I did understand her I just did not tell her. Unfortunately, or fortunately perhaps, children have picked up German in the camps.