Bar Mitzva in Theresienstadt 

Jerzy Bader (pictured left)  was born in April, 1930, in Kyjov, Czechoslovakia to Pavel & Greta Bader. Four years later his sister Vera was born. The Bader family led a traditional Jewish lifestyle and owned a store which enabled them to live comfortably.  In January 1943, just two months before Jerzy’s Bar Mitzva, the Bader family was deported to Theresienstadt along with the rest of the Jews of Kyjov. Naturally, in the midst of the upheaval in the family’s life, it was impossible to celebrate Jerzy’s Bar Mitzva.

In April 1944, when Jerzy was 14, it was finally possible to mark the occasion in the youth club of  the ghetto. In spite of the difficult conditions, Jerzy's family and friends from Kyjov prepared gifts for him: he received an album illustrated by the talented caricaturist Max Placek, and a prayer shawl and its cloth bag among other items.

Six months after the Bar Mitzva celebration, Jerzy and his father were deported to Auschwitz where they both perished.

Greta Baderova managed to conceal Vera from deportation throughout the rest of the war. After the war they both returned to Kyjov, where Vera lives until today. Vera recently donated many of these items to Yad Vashem's Historical Museum.

• If you are interested in donating Holocaust related objects, artifacts or art to Yad Vashem, please contact: museum@yadvashem.org.il