Objects in Focus

Refugee children

Zdenka was born in 1939, in Prague. Zdenka’s parents were Helena (nee Husserlova) and Pavel Husserl. In 1942, at three years old Zdenka was deported by the Nazi regime with her mother to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp and Ghetto. Zdenka’s mother and grandfather were sent to Auschwitz in 1944, her father having previously been sent to Lodz Ghetto. Zdenka remained in Theresienstadt until its liberation in May 1945, by which time she was 6 years old. After liberation Zdenka was brought to England as part of a scheme to aid surviving orphaned children liberated from the Nazi camp system. A group of the children including Zdenka, lived first in a house in Surrey and later in Isleworth in what was known as Lingfield House. Zdenka treasures the sign as symbolic of her time in both houses.

Learn more about Lingfield House

Collections overview

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