Macramé bag used by Franka Baral to hide money while living in hiding with her 3 children, Aneta, 13 yr., Martin, 11 yr., and Jim Jacob, 8 years old from 1943-45. It was made by her brother, Samuel Hirsh. One wooden handle was made hollow to hide valuables. They carried food in the see-through bag, so it would not attract interest. They were arrested several times, but the bag was never taken away. Franka and her family were forced into the Krakow ghetto in 1941 by the Germans, who occupied Poland in September 1939. In 1943, warned of a planned liquidation, the family escaped. The boys were sent to hide with their former housekeeper. Franka and Aneta fled to Tarnow, and Samuel, her husband, to Plaszow. Franka and Aneta rejoined the boys, but when Bochnia became a labor camp in 1943, they fled to Hungary. Abandoned by the smugglers, the children were jailed. After Franka found them, the family was sold to an underground Jewish organization and sent to Budapest. They were joined by 3 young cousins sent from Krakow. Franka and the 6 children move to different places each night. At some point, Franka met Ilona Nemes, a Hungarian women, who hid them until liberation by the Soviets in early 1945. The family then left for Bucharest, Romania. Through the Red Cross, Samuel finds out they are alive and joins them. He had survived because he was placed on Schindler's list. The family emigrated to Palestine in 1946.
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