Overview
- Caption
- A young Jewish girl stands outside holding a teddy bear in Berlin.
Pictured is Hannah Kastan. - Date
-
Circa 1941 - 1944
- Locale
- Berlin, [Berlin] Germany
- Variant Locale
- Berlin-Buckow
Berlin-Mariendorf
Berlin-Ploetzensee
Berlin-Reinickendorf
Berlin-Tempelhof
Berlin-Wannsee
Berlin-Schlachtensee
Berlin-Duppel - Photo Credit
- United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Hannah Kastan Weiss
Rights & Restrictions
- Photo Source
-
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial MuseumProvenance: Hannah Kastan WeissSource Record ID: Collections: 1996.23.83
Keywords & Subjects
Administrative Notes
- Artifact Photographer
- Max Reid
- Biography
- Hannah Weiss (born Hannah Kastan) is the daughter of Guenter and Sara Kastan. She was born November 23, 1938 in Berlin. Her mother and father were Jewish, her paternal grandfather was Jewish and her paternal grandmother was not. During World War II her parents were pressed into forced labor at the Siemens plant in Berlin, where they remained until March 1943. Hannah spent weekends with her parents but lived with her grandparents in Berlin during the week. In March 1943 Hannah was rounded-up with her parents and taken to the deportation assembly center at the Berlin Jewish Home for the Aged. Hannah's grandmother spotted her there and managed to smuggle her out. For the next two years Hannah lived with her grandparents, who registered her as their own child. She had to remain indoors and hide whenever there was a knock on the door, but otherwise led a normal life. Hannah's mother was never heard from again after her deportation and is presumed to have perished in Auschwitz. Her father continued to send mail to his parents and daughter until January 1945. He was assigned to forced labor in the Buna factory in Auschwitz III (Monowitz). Guenter was reportedly beaten and then shot to death by an SS guard on February 28, 1945, during the death march from Auschwitz to Germany.
- Record last modified:
- 2005-09-09 00:00:00
- This page:
- https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1143888