Text: Karen Hendriks; Edit: Martina Hošková; Photo: Archive
In Horní Řasnice
Karen Hendriks is an emerging Australian picture book author, with three books out in the world – ‘Go Away, Foxy Foxy’, ‘Feathers’, and ‘Home’. The inspiration for her last picture book ‘Home’ came from her grandmother’s sadness for the loss of her family home. “It’s about losing a home, finding a new one, but never forgetting the one you came from”, explains the writer.
My intuition answered the call of an old tapestry
I will always remember my grandmother’s deep sadness for the loss of her family home. Her eyes held a longing.
I thought the house was lost because of the war, so many people lost everything. My grandmother had been an only child, and I think one day she thought that the home would have been a place she could always visit. One of my grandmother’s tapestries, of a snowy mountain home, is on my wall at home. Her sadness is something I will never forget. This was the inspiration for my picture book Home. It’s about losing a home, finding a new one, but never forgetting the one you came from.
When I decided to leave teaching and become a children’s author, my picture book Home is one of the very first stories I wrote. I am a person who writes from the heart first, and then the head follows that intuition. I worked hard on Home for over four years, and as my writing craft improved so did my story. Little did I know that this story was going to be a gift to me, and that it is still giving to me to this very day.
I discovered so many things about my mother’s family during this story’s journey, not because my mother shared the information but because it unfolded bit by bit as I gathered it myself. My mother had shown me an image of the small village that my grandmother was born in, and where she was from. I had assumed it was in Germany. It was small, it snowed, and it was near mountains. This became the setting for my picture book Home.
I wrote about a young girl and her family’s journey after losing their home and then coming to Australia. I had always wondered why my grandmother could never return.
We had been Sudeten Germans
The question “why” would become the heart of my story. One day, while chatting to my mother, she shared the name of the village and one old photo.
It struck me how beautiful the village was. I went searching and searching and searching but every way I turned nothing came up. I couldn’t understand why. Eventually, I discovered UK-based Sophie Dixon’s webpage. She uses all sorts of visual mediums to create stories. For her thesis, she had created a page about Wunschendorf. It was there that I discovered the village is now called Srbská, and is in Horní Řasnice in the Czech Republic. On Sophie’s site, I read stories about survivors from the village, and there were photos and some video recordings from people who are still alive and have a connection to it. I realised that my family had been Sudeten Germans.
This path led me to an understanding that any people who had Germanic heritage had to leave their homes and could never return. This became woven into my picture book. Although my story is fictional, it does have those emotions and feelings. Along the way, I discovered that my great-grandfather, Julius Bohm, had been the deputy mayor of Wunschendorf. Julius had opposed Hitler in 1939, so even before World War II had started he was placed in the Dachau concentration camp, and was not allowed out until the war had well and truly finished.
During the time of writing my book, I did travel to Europe, before COVID-19, and visited Potsdam, where the Treaty was drawn up and signed. This is what changed the course of many people’s lives. Any person with Germanic heritage in Czechia, Poland, and Hungry had to leave their homes and return to Germany. Now I knew why my family could never return.
When my picture book received a contract to be published, I had to tell my mother about the story. I wondered and worried about what she would think.
She is very protective of my grandmother. Eventually, a week before my book was to be released, my mother read the story, and although she never says much, I was very happy that she liked it. Then, out of her mouth came the words that this had happened to her as a young baby. I had always assumed my mother was born in Germany. I now knew my mother had been born in Wunschendorf. My mother said this happened to my grandmother, her, and my great- grandmother. The two women and my mother (as a young baby) had walked alone from the village into Germany.
I decided to visit the house
At the beginning of this year, I decided to try and find the village and the house. I found Hanna online as a tour guide in Prague, and asked her if we could book her to take my husband and me into the mountains to try and find the village. With the information that I had given Hanna, she was confident we would find the village and the house. I was secretly excited and hopeful.
In June 2023, I arrived in Prague and fell in love with the city. On the day we were going to find the village, Hanna and her husband Robert arrived to pick us up from the Old Town. I think Hanna was as excited as I was about our quest. As we drove into Horní Řasnice, Hanna said, “We are not far from your village”. As the car slowed into the village she said, “Karen, look out for the house”. My husband Frank called out that he had found it. Hanna was certain too. We stopped and looked at the house from the road and the driveway. Yes, it did match the photo perfectly. Everyone was very excited. The house had been renovated, and was beautiful. From the house, I could see what was once the schoolhouse (now a residence) that my grandmother had attended. I was not quite certain that this was the right house. I had a feeling the house was connected to me, but that it wasn’t the one my mother had been born in. The others reassured me, but the feeling that it wasn’t quite right persisted.
We then decided to visit the mayor’s office, and this is 52 where the story gets very interesting. We climbed the old staircase, and knocked on a wooden door. Hanna declared how lucky we were that the mayor was in his office that day. She explained that I was from Australia, and that I had found the house my mother and grandmother were born in. Everyone in the office became very excited and looked up the records. Yes, indeed it was the village and then the surprise grew even bigger: my family had lived in the village for 108 years, and originally the Bohm family members had owned eight houses in the village. And then another surprise came: two houses were still standing. We even rang my mother, and she was able to personally thank the mayor for helping me, thanks to Hanna translating. Before we went back to find the second house, the mayor kindly took us to see the village’s small church. It was historical and charming, and once inside I realised that this was the church where my grandmother had made her Holy Communion – I remembered from a photo my mother has. The mayor declared that I was one of them, and I smiled ear-to-ear and replied “Yes, I am.”
It also turns out that the mayor knows Sophie Dixon, and that she had lived in the village for five or six years. Now I knew why she recreated the village online. She has now left, but I did pass on a message from the mayor to her.
Then we went back to find the second home, and I knew the number of the house I was seeking. Hanna said that they often changed the house numbers after the war, but the number 126 was the one I was looking for. As we went past the first house, just around the corner was a sweeping driveway with a letterbox numbered 126. There, right near the first house, was the house my mother and grandmother had been born in. The same as the other house, but a different colour, and not renovated. My heart was happy, and I am so filled with gratitude that this had happened. I had found two houses, not one. How incredible is that?
In the church of Horní Řasnice
Back in Australia, I hope to visit Czechia again
Now that I am back in Australia, I feel the pieces of the puzzle have come together. I love Australia and where I live by the sea, but a piece of me will always be at a snowy mountain village in the Czech Republic. Somehow, I belong there too. I understand so much more about my grandmother and her homesickness.
I do hope to come back to Prague, and to visit the Friedland council to look at the birth and marriage certificates. I am so thankful for Hanna and Robert’s help, and that my story led me to making so many family discoveries.
In the Old Town of Prague
Karen Hendriks
is an emerging Australian picture book author with three books out in the world – Go Away, Foxy Foxy; Feathers; and Home. Foxy and Feathers were shortlisted in the Rubery International Book Awards. The Duchess of York shared Feathers on her YouTube channel. Feathers also received a Highly Commended at the ACT Notable Book Awards in Canberra, Australia. Recently, Feathers won an Australian Foreverability award. Home is listed on the Refugee Council of Australia’s webpage as a resource and is on the 2023 NSW Premiers Reading list as recommended reading for school students.
Currently, Karen is participating in The Inspire Series children’s book talks. This is with other Australian and international children’s authors. She also writes daily quotes for creatives on Instagram.
Karen lives on the New South Wales’ South Coast in Shellharbour, Australia. She’s always curious and loves to travel. Karen is currently self-publishing a local picture book and has just signed a new picture book contract.