Photo By Jymi Bolden

Seeking information about a child murdered during the Holocaust, Fumiko Ishioka met the girl's brother, George Brady.

More than 50 years ago Hana Brady was forced from the Jewish ghetto of Terezin and loaded onto a rail car bound for Auschwitz. She had told friends during the ride that she was excited about the possibility of reuniting with her only brother.

Instead when she arrived, her head was shaved and she was sent directly to the gas chamber for execution. Four months after her death, the Soviet Army liberated the concentration camp. If Hana Brady had survived, she would have been 13 years old.

Hana's voice would still be silent today, lost among the 1.5 million other Jewish children killed by the Nazis, if not for the determination of Fumiko Ishioka, director of the Tokyo Holocaust Education Center. Ishioka discovered Hana's suitcase among artifacts sent from Auschwitz as part of the museum's exhibit, The Holocaust Seen through Children's Eyes.

'Just a number'
The search to unravel the secrets of Hana's identity, prompted by the urging of Japanese children, led Ishioka across several continents to Toronto, Canada, the home of Hana's only brother, George Brady. Their story has been bound in the pages of Hana's Suitcase, a book detailing the life of George and Hana and Ishioka's relentless quest.

The success of the book -- distributed in 37 countries and translated into 19 languages -- has surprised the story's primary characters, Ishioka and George Brady.

"Everybody discusses, when you see so many books on the Holocaust, why this one would grab everybody in such a personal way -- in a very, very emotional way," Brady says. "But I think when you say, 'One-and-a-half million children died,' it's just a number. When you read the story of Hana and then you say there were one-and-a-half million like her, it just somehow means something."

The Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education (CHHE) of Hebrew Union College has been bringing the story to life through 16 programs in the Greater Cincinnati area, hosting George Brady to talk about his murdered sister. The story has especially hit a chord among young readers from the elementary grades through high school, according to Racelle Weiman, director of the center. During a presentation for 300 to 400 high school students featuring Brady, Ishioka and the famous suitcase, Weiman says the normally rowdy teens sat quietly and listened, especially captivated by Holocaust survivor Brady. When time for questions came, Weiman says, students lined up out the door.

"They kept saying, 'This is for you, George' and they would say it very softly," she says. "They would ask him questions about his rage -- issues that you know are hidden. They ask him questions like, did he ever want to commit suicide or did he ever get depressed. But he always responded in a very positive, truthful way."

Weiman says the fact that students can relate their own emotions, problems and home life to Brady's is an inspiration to the teens to help them put their lives in perspective.

"When Fumiko speaks about George, it's not only with such elegance and reverence, but with the idea that this is a man that has moved on," Weiman says. "He has his mourning and he has his sadness, but he's created a family; he's proud of his life. He's lived as an honorable human being -- and isn't it amazing when you see that the world did collapse for a person and he could live beyond it?"

'I felt responsible'
Brady's daughter, Lara, explains she has personally witnessed the dramatic affect the book has on children, while sitting with a group of fifth-graders in her home city of Toronto.

"The two worst kids in the class -- these are kids that hit each other and they were both crying and completely besotted by the story," she says. "These are kids that I've spent quite a few weeks with -- and they're not nice kids. It's amazing how it affects them. My dad is completely bowled over by the fact that they're so into it."

Brady has received thousands of e-mails from children across the world with questions about the book and statements on how they plan to live and appreciate their lives in the future. He says the overwhelming responses and waves of emotion come from the fact that, for many of the children, the book is their first exposure to the Holocaust. Making children aware of the atrocities of the past has become a mission for the Auschwitz survivor.

"That's why I feel like my mission is so effective, because it teaches children who aren't prejudice," Brady says. "When you go to older people, they have their ideas and it's hard to change them. But with children, you can achieve something."

The fact that the search for Hana began due to the persistence of Japanese children proves the story's message transcends all religions, cultures and races, Ishioka says. The reactions from children all over the world are what she finds to be especially rewarding.

"What is really exciting for me is it encourages children to come up with very different ideas," she says. "The younger kids respond in a different way. They can appreciate what they have now -- parents, brother and sister. And the older kids, high school students in my country, started to take an interest in the past -- what Japan was doing at that time."

The past still holds painful memories. While Brady says he suppressed memories of the Holocaust for many years, speaking about the events has become cathartic for him, especially in regards to memories of his sister.

"Actually, to a degree it's a relief, because it really bothered me, my sister's fate," he says. "I felt responsible for her, but I could do absolutely nothing to save her. This story is a relief, because it accomplishes so much in teaching kids around the world in such a large way that I could never imagine about tolerance -- many, many, many things. Hana always wanted to be a teacher and suddenly she's become a teacher on such a huge scale." ©