History of Sorts

There is no bond stronger than that between a mother and child. The photograph above appears to be of a mother showing off her beautiful newborn cosily wrapped in a blanket and the smiling, doting mother.

However, there is more to this photo. It really is a double miracle—giving birth is a miracle itself is a miracle—giving birth on a train journey in an open coal car is a double miracle, for lack of a better word.

The mother is Anka Nathanová. She arrived at the gates of Mauthausen. She gave birth to her daughter, Eva, on a cart there. Anka weighed less than 80 pounds and had managed to hide her pregnancy long enough to keep her and her unborn child safe from the Nazi gas chambers. The Americans arrived six days later, and an Army Signal Corps cameraman filmed the human wreckage as evidence of Nazi atrocities. He also filmed Anka with her new baby.

Despite the miracle of Anka Nathanová and her daughter being alive—more suffering was yet to come for them. Upon arriving home in Prague, she discovered that all 15 members of her immediate family were murdered during the war. That included her husband, who had been shot on a death march.

Anka did find love again, remarried and moved to Wales with her new husband and daughter, Eva.

Her daughter, Eva Clarke, did describe her mother as an eternal optimist. It always amazes me so many kept a positive mindset despite all the horrors they witnessed.

Source

A Mother, a Baby, a Name: Identifying One of the Youngest Survivors of the Holocaust