In this portrait, Helena Husserlova, wearing a Jewish badge, poses with her daughter Zdenka who is holding a teddy bear. The photograph was taken shortly before they were deported to Theresienstadt.
Zdenka 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. He died there almost a year later, on September 23, 1942. Following his deportation, Helena and Zdenka returned to Helena's hometown to live with her mother and uncle. They stayed there for a year before they were deported 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 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.
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