We mourn the loss of Hana Malka

21 February 1923 - 13 November 2023

Hana Malka, née Fialová, grows up in the Bohemian town of Strakonice. The girl had a sheltered, beautiful childhood. When the German Wehrmacht invaded in the spring of 1939, life changed for the Jewish population. Hana had to drop out of school and her family was dispossessed. In November 1942, the young woman, her mother and grandfather were forced to move to the Theresienstadt ghetto. After two years in the ghetto, she was transported to Auschwitz. The SS sent her to the Oederan subcamp in Flossenbürg.

At first, Hana Fialová cleans for the guards and darns stockings. Later she has to make bullet casings. This work is particularly hard during the night shift. The women easily injured themselves out of tiredness and exhaustion. At the end of April 1945, the SS transported the prisoners to Bohemia in cattle wagons. Hana Fialová was liberated in Theresienstadt on May 8.

Hana Fialová began studying sociology in Prague, but soon realized that she did not want to stay in Europe and emigrated to Palestine in the summer of 1946. At the end of the 1940s, she met her future husband Meir Malka. She only slowly managed to overcome the physical damage caused by her imprisonment in the camps. Hana Malka traveled a lot, became involved in her community and worked as a Feldenkrais teacher several times a week until she was in her mid-90s. She also regularly visits the Flossenbürg concentration camp memorial and conducts eyewitness interviews with young people.

In Hana Malka, we have lost a friend who was an inspiration to us all. We will miss her dearly. Our thoughts are with Hana Malka and her family at this time, to whom we extend our sincere condolences.