In March 1939, when Hana Müller (later Bruml) was 16 years old, Nazi Germany occupied her hometown of Prague, Czechoslovakia. Like other Czech Jews, Hana experienced persecution and discrimination under Nazi rule. In August 1942, she was sent to the Theresienstadt ghetto, where she worked as a nurse. More than two years later, in October 1944, German authorities deported Hana to Auschwitz-Birkenau. At Auschwitz, she was selected for forced labor. After a few weeks, she was sent to Sackisch, a subcamp of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. At Sackisch, Hana was forced to work in a German factory making airplane parts for the Nazi German war effort. She was liberated in May 1945.
During that time things were getting worse in terms of um getting supplies, buying food, working, going places. I remember going on the street and meeting one of my school friends. Of course, by that time I had the star. And as we came closer to each other, we walked slower and slower, thinking, "Should I stop? Should I talk? Who was it worse for, her, is it worse for me? What should we go and do and stuff?" So...And so we slowly came together, looked at each other, winked at each other, and passed again. It, it was that sort of a situation. You had to think, "Wait a minute. Is today Saturday? Saturday, I cannot go this place. Friday, I cannot get that place." Because the restrictions were getting tighter and tighter. So it was a difficult time.
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