Annie Vallance collection

The donor's grandmother, Anne (known to many as Annie) Valance (née Lasky) was born and lived in Sheffield, UK. Shortly after the end of World War II she received three letters from Jewish cousins living in eastern Europe. The first letter, dated 31.12.1945, was written (in English) by Henrik (Heinrich/ Henry) Wiener, a doctor, writing from Bratislava in what is now Slovakia. The second (handwritten) letter, of 10.I.1946, was written by Ilonka, writing from Arad in Romania. The third letter, of 15.II.1946, came from Pali and Blanka in Beckov, also in modern day Slovakia. Beckov was where the family had owned a farm over several generations. Koloman (the cousins’ father), and subsequently Pali, managed the farm prior to the war. Following the end of the war, Russian apparatchiks took over the running of the farm, however they were incompetent, so Pali left the farm and moved to Bratislava, where he took a clerical job. Initially they hoped to move to the West. Eventually Ilonka, her husband and her daughter were able to leave Romania and made Aliyah to Israel in 1961. Henrik & Anny, Pali and Blanka remained in Czechoslovakia (as it was then). As at 2019, Henrik & Anny’s daughter Eva was living in Bratislava, their son Peter with his wife Eva in Kosice in the east of Slovakia.

Donated 06/02/2019

Donor: Philip Nalpanis