Zdenka Husserl (F / Czechia, 1939), Holocaust survivor

Children at the Weir Courtney children's home in Surrey: (from left to right) an unidentified child, Zdenka Husserl, Tanya Muench, Letzi Sonnenschein, and Denys Muench

Girls at the Weir Courtney children's home in Surrey: (left to right): Hedi Friedman, Zdenka Husserl, Mirjam Stern, Hanka Traub, Judith Singer, Tanya Muench, Ruth Kamaryth, Sylvia Gruener, Eva Traub; and (back row): Milly Schwarz and Magda Liberman

Zdenka Husserl shortly after her arrival in England in 1945

Zdenka Husserl (F / Czechia, 1939), Holocaust survivor

• KEYWORDS : <Czechia> <Theresienstadt> / <Liberation of Theresienstadt> / <England> <Windermere Children>

Biography

Zdenka Husserl was born in Prague in February or March 6, 1939; her parents were called Helena and Pavel. When Zdenka was only two years old, her father was deported to the Lodz Ghetto, where he perished. In November 1942, Zdenka was deported with her mother to Theresienstadt, and her earliest memories are from the camp. She particularly remembers screaming as her head was shaved. Zdenka was separated from her mother in the camp; she learned years later that Helena was deported to her death in Auschwitz in 1944. Zdenka was six years old when she was liberated. She was immediately moved to an orphanage in Prague. In August 1945 she went to England as part of the Windermere Children. In December 1945, she went to live at Weir Courtney under Alice Goldberger’s care, where she spent the rest of her childhood. “We had as happy a childhood as any normal child,” she recalls.

USHMM

Zdenka Husserl (born Zdenka Husserlova) is the daughter of Pavel and Helena (Fischerova) Husserlova. She was born in Prague on February 6, 1939. On October 10, 1941, when Zdenka was just two and a half years old, her father was deported to the Lodz ghetto, where he died a year later, on September 23, 1942. Following his deportation, Helena brought Zdenka back to her hometown of Zdikov to live with her mother and uncle. They remained there for one year before being sent to Theresienstadt on November 16, 1942. Helena was subsequently deported to Auschwitz on October 19, 1944, where she died at the age of 34. Zdenka, however, remained in Theresienstadt until the liberation. After the war Zdenka was placed on a transport of 300 child survivors to England sponsored by the British philanthropist, Leonard Montefiore. Following her arrival in England in August 1945, Zdenka was sheltered together with 23 other concentration camp survivors at the Finchley Road children's home in London.

Sources

• USHMM Database (Adenka Husserl, 6 Mar 1939) -- YES
• 45aid.org (Zdenka Husserl, 1939) -- YES