Hanna Stern lived in Berlin-Mitte with her parents Isaak and Sofia and her older brother Philip. The Jewish family had been persecuted since the National Socialists took power in 1933. Having lost their business and thus their income, they had to move in with Hanna’s aunt in 1938. In July 1941, Isaak Stern was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where he was shot dead in 1942.
In January 1942, Hanna, Philip, and Sofia Stern were deported to the Riga ghetto. Hanna last saw her brother in November 1943 when the ghetto was dissolved. Shortly after, she and her mother were taken to Kaiserwald concentration camp. Since younger children were not admitted there, her mother passed Hanna off as a 13-year-old. They both performed forced labor in an external work detail. They managed to escape, aided by Jānis Lipke. Hanna was so sick and emaciated that she could not walk. Lipke had to carry her on his back. He hid them both on the Millers family’s farm near Dobele. They lived in the basement along with twelve other persecuted Jews, not allowed to leave their hiding place until their liberation in October 1944. Sofia and Hanna Stern emigrated to Israel in 1950.
The Stern family, late-1930s. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Hanna and Philip Stern, 1930s. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Hanna Stern (3rd row, 3rd from right) at school, Riga, around 1945. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
Sofia and Hanna Stern, Riga, around 1949. Source: Privatbesitz/Private
