Anna Lorencová

* 1927  †︎ 2018

  • “In Hagibor, Prague we were split into smaller groups and each got assigned a leader. They were all previously trained by the Jewish association. Our program consisted mostly of sports. Fredy Hirsch was also active there; we would have various contests, for instance track-and-field. When the weather was bad we would read books in the group and tell each other stories. It was all very peaceful.”

  • “He was handsome, slim, a sports type. He was used to the youth and protected them to his last moment in any way he could. But eventually he himself died.”

  • “From the liberated camps, people were sent back to Terezín so the situation there was horrible. These people returned wretched, tattered, having no clothes. They were quite literally lying on each other in the train cars – usually open cargo ones. For us it was a horrible situation because they were telling us stories about what was happening out there. We found it hard to believe but it was a matter of fact.”

  • Celé nahrávky
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    Praha, 25.03.2014

    (audio)
    délka: 01:44:42
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu Stories of 20th Century
Celé nahrávky jsou k dispozici pouze pro přihlášené uživatele.

We helped people carry suitcases into the transports

Lorencová Anna,2014
Lorencová Anna,2014
zdroj: Eye Direct

Anna Lorencová, née Weinsteinová, was born on 13 March 1927 in the city of Most in North Bohemia. Her parents were of Jewish origin and, following the occupation of the Sudetenland, fearing for their safety they decided to leave for Prague. In 1940 Anna‘s father managed to escape to Shanghai where he worked throughout WW II as a medical doctor. His wife stayed in the Protectorate with their children. From 1941 to 1945 they were all imprisoned in the Terezín concentration camp. After the war Anna Lorencová joined the Communist Party but was expelled in the 1950s. Following her graduation in sociology she took a job in the Czechoslovak Radio where she worked on undertaking audience surveys. She lost her job following the 1968 occupation. She then went through several jobs, working in a laundry, in the Jewish Museum, in a housing co-operative, in the editorial board of Lettre International and finally again in the Czechoslovak Radio. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution she recorded interviews with Jews living in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, as well as with the Czech Roma. She has two daughters. At was volunteering for the Terezin Initiative Institute. Anna Lorencová passed away on October, 2018