A hoax. The suitcase was part of the hoax.
You use a suitcase because you will need what is in it when you arrive at your destination.
A little two year old boy named Petr was sent by train, without his parents, from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz on May 18 th 1944.
How many hours did he sit on that train?
Who looked after him?
Did he get anything to drink and to eat?
But he did have a suitcase for travelling, like a passenger going somewhere.
A suitcase with his name, his birthdate, a deportation number and that one word “Kind”. Like Fragile on one of the parcels sent by mail.
A child to be taken extra care of. A terrible hoax.
How long did little Petr live after arriving in Auschwitz? Probably not very long.
His suitcase at the museum in Auschwitz became his symbolic gravestone.
We will remember little Petr Eisler.
.ת.נ.צ.ב.ה
Written by Eva Floersheim, Moss, Norway. Jan 6, 2018