Vera Schiff

Vera and her mother Elsa and sister before the war

Vera’s parents Elsa and Zibrid

Vera as a young woman

Vera and late husband Arthur, they married in Theresienstadt

Vera (r) and her sister Eva (l) before the war

Vera’s high school equivalency diploma

WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FAMILY AFTER THE hOLOCAUST?

After the end of the war, I stayed in Prague for sometime really, hoping and perceived ourselves that this is our home. Because for generations, we have lived there and we perceived ourselves as Jews or the Czechs of Jewish village and that what was defined for generations. So in 1945, after we have rehabilitated physically, was a long process after all these starvations and sufferings in camp. So we had thought that we could, again, replant our roots back into the country. But, you know, it's, it was very difficult because from a flourishing warm family setting, we have all returned alone, or many families had no returnees. And it was like going from day in, day out to a cemetery because on every corner, there was some memory in a park or wherever someone lived you loved and it was forever different…

[My Mother] was after 50 when she died. To me this diary meant kind of contact with her, and whenever there is bad times, whatever in my life, I go back to it. Because I know it by heart. So she has on the end written me a letter and you can see the agony of a parent. She knew that I'm alone because by that time my father was dead, my sister was dead, my grandparents were dead. So she had left me a message, or she wrote me a letter and, she stressed what I should do. Till today I admire her strength. She still generated the worry or the love to write me what I should do when I come back to Prague. I should not be absorbed by my heartbroken heart and and go back to school. It offered a great deal of support. And then, because, you know in every life there are ups and downs in our lives was quite difficult. I think that this little diary, meant the world to me, till today it's one of my most valuable possessions. I wouldn't part for it for nothing. And I see her behind it, and I still admire that strength with that dying person who was physically so finished and still she generated the energy to write down, you when you come out, you should do A, B, C, D. And I still admire the depths of commitment and love she had for me, to give me this blueprint, how to live my life…