"That's What I Hope" The Story of Holocaust Survivor Hannah Pick

Hannah-Elizabeth (Elisheva) Gosler Pick was born in 1928 in Berlin to Hans Gosler and Ruth-Judith née Klay. Hannah's father was Head of the Prussian Press Bureau and adviser to the Minister of Interior of Brandenburg, Germany, her mother was a teacher. In 1933, with the rise of the Nazis to power, Hannah's family moved to England and a year afterwards to Amsterdam. There, at school, Hannah met Anne Frank, also a refugee from Germany. With the German occupation in May 1940, Hannah experienced the discrimination of Jews and the prohibitions imposed on them. In October 1942, while giving birth both the baby and Hannah's mother died. On June 20, 1943, Hannah, her younger sister Gabriella (Gabi), her father and her grandfather were arrested and sent to the Westerbork transit camp. Hannah and Gabi were separated from their father and sent to the orphanage in the camp. In addition to her work cleaning the toilets, Hannah helped care for toddlers in the orphanage. On February 15, 1944, Hannah, her father and her sister were transferred to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. In Bergen-Belsen, Hannah had to do forced labor and she took care of her three-year-old sister Gabi. When she was told that Anne Frank was also imprisoned there she managed to establish contact with her and even tried to give her a package of food and clothing. Hanna's father, grandfather and grandmother were murdered in Bergen-Belsen. On April 11, 1945, the camp inmates were evacuated. Hannah had contracted typhus, but was nevertheless taken, together with her sister, in the "lost train" which traveled aimlessly for about two weeks. In June, the Soviets handed them to the Americans and in July, Hannah and her sister returned to Amsterdam. Hannah made Aliah to the Land of Israel in 1947 and lived in Kfar Hasidim. She worked as a nurse in a pediatric ward at the 'Bikkur Holim' Hospital in Jerusalem. Hannah and Walter-Pinchas had three children.