Born: Hana Sommer
Prague, Czechoslovakia
June 1, 1925
Died: October 18, 2013
Hana Ginzbarg was born in Prague, Czechoslovkia where both her parents were trained as lawyers. Ginzbarg was 13 years old when Germany occupied the country on March 15, 1939.
She and her 11-year-old brother were two of the more than 600 children able to leave Czechoslovakia aboard trains to London organized by British stockbroker Nicholas Winton. In England, Ginzbarg lived under the constant threat of German air raids. Although her mother was able to secure passage to London, Ginzbarg’s father did not have the permit required to leave Czechoslovakia. He died in Prague in 1940.
Along with her mother and brother, Ginzbarg arrived in the U.S. in April 1943, a few months before she turned 18. Ginzbarg received a scholarship to attend Vassar College and eventually studied chemistry at Purdue University in Indiana. There she met her husband, physics student Arthur Ginzbarg.
In 1949, the couple moved to Houston where they raised their son. Ginzbarg was active in a number of nature and bayou preservation initiatives in the Houston area.
Parents:
Otto Sommer, d. 1940
Zdenka Fischer Sommer, survived
Siblings:
Ivan, survived