Hana’s Suitcase

In March 2000, a suitcase arrived at a children’s Holocaust education center in Tokyo, Japan. On the outside, in white paint, were these words: Hana Brady, May 16, 1931, and Waisenkind — the German word for orphan. Children who saw the suitcase on display were full of questions. Who was Hana Brady? What happened to her? They wanted Fumiko Ishioka, the center’s curator, to find the answers. In a suspenseful journey, Fumiko searches for clues across Europe and North America. The mystery of the suitcase takes her back through seventy years, to a young Hana and her family, whose happy life in a small Czech town was turned upside down by the invasion of the Nazis.

A remarkable true story that has become an international bestseller in more than 40 countries — now a stage play and feature length documentary called Inside Hana’s Suitcase.  See photos from the film at the end of the book.