Red leather pouch used by a Czech Jewish inmate in Theresienstadt

Helene Reik was born in Osoblaha, Czechoslovakia, Austro-Hungary, on March 23, 1884. She was married to Berthold and the couple had four children: Kurt, born in 1906, Margarete, born in 1910, Irene, (1912-1992), and Hans, born in 1915. By 1912, the family moved to Opava (Troppau, Czech Republic.) Berthold passed away in 1935. In the late 1930s, Helena moved to Brno. In fall 1938, the western powers met with Hitler in Munich and agreed to Hitler's annexation of the Czech Sudetenland border region, where Opava was located. All of Helene's children managed to leave Czechoslovakia by 1939: Kurt settled in Brazil and Irene, a designer and architect, and Margarete went to Great Britain. In March 1939, Germany violated the pact and annexed the Bohemia and Moravia provinces, where Brno was located. German allies took over other regions and Czechoslovakia ceased to exist. Anti-Jewish policies were enacted: most Jews lost their jobs and property and belongings were confiscated. In September 1941, Reinhard Heydrich became Reich Protector and the persecution increased. All Jews were required to wear Star of David badges. In November 1941, Theresienstadt ghetto-labor camp opened near Prague and large scale transports of Czech Jews were sent there. Helene was sent to the camp on transport U-891 from Brno on January 29, 1942. Helene dedicated herself to recording the deplorable conditions in the camp. Resources were scarce, so Helene recorded her thoughts and experiences in the margins and on the backs of family photographs that she had brought with her, as well as postcards and letters she received while in the ghetto. Helene, 59, died on November 15, 1943, from an infection following surgery for appendicitis performed in the camp hospital. Her belongings were saved by her niece and fellow inmate, Gerda Reik Lanzer, who gave them to Helene's daughter, Irene, after the May 9, 1945, liberation of the camp after the end of the war.

The pouch was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2002 by Elizabeth Margosches, grandaughter of Helene Reik.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Elizabeth Margosches

Funding Note: The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.