Hana Eardley - Holocaust Survivor
Photo: History Department with Hana Eardley.
Holocaust Project
Before the half-term, we studied the Holocaust in our history lesson and we were set a task to create a memorial to commemorate the millions of Jewish people who died at that time. Following the half-term, the pupils who created the five best memorials from each year 9 class were given the opportunity to meet Hana Eardley, who was a survivor of the Holocaust.
Hana Eardley led a very interesting life. She was one of the few people who managed to survive the atrocities of the Holocaust and live to pass on her story to later generations.
At the age of ten, she was one of over 600 lucky children who managed to board one of the many ‘Kinder-Transport’ trains that evacuated her from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia to England. At the time, because Hana was only ten years old, she did not understand Nazism and how that affected Jewish peoples’ lives, she also did not realise that she was never to see her parents again.
Hana and her twin brother were taken to the boarding platform by their very anxious and nervous parents. Just before the train left, Hana’s parents started to cry. They had told their daughter that she was going on a holiday to England to learn the language and the ways of the people. Hana now knows that her parents probably realised how serious the situation was and that they also probably knew that this could be the last time they saw their daughter.
Once in England, Hana was placed with an English foster family in Yorkshire. Hana was very lucky to have a nice and understanding family. She was separated from her brother then (who went to a different family), but kept in touch with him and her parents, for a time, through the Red Cross. Hana’s family allowed her brother to spend weekends with her and sometimes she could go to his home.
Hana then spent the rest of her life living in England. Being a very intelligent child, she learnt English in less than six months, and was able to pass a grammar school test and have an excellent education. Later in life, she learnt that her sister, Greta, who was also meant to be evacuated to England via the ‘Kinder-Transport’ did not make it because their train got to the German-Dutch border half an hour after war was declared and was forced to turn back. Hana lost her sister, parents, grand-parents, cousins, and other relatives to the hand of the Nazis and their concentration camps during World War II.
Hana became a successful teacher and married later in her life. Her husband was from Liverpool where she now lives. Her story can inspire us to stand up to dictators and not allow discrimination to be taken to such extremes in the future.
By Oliver McGrath 9D
Photo: Oliver McGrath's winning piece of work.