Lotte as a young woman before the war

Lotte [Lotka, Lottie] Wotitzky [Wotizky] was born in Prague in 1913, oldest daughter to Leo Wotitzky (d. 1918) and Greta [Margaret, Marketa] Lowyova (murdered at Maly Trostinec 1942). She married Ernest [Ernst, Arnost] Stern at Prague’s Jubilee Synagogue in 1938. Lotte and Ernest were deported to Theresienstadt in 1942 where she spent the war years; he was later deported to Auschwitz and then to a labor camp. They were among the lucky few to be reunited in Prague upon liberation in 1945. Aside from Lotte’s younger sister, Nelly, who survived the war with her husband and young daughter in Shanghai, Lotte and Ernest’s entire family was murdered. After the war they changed their last name from Stern (which sounded too German to their ears) to Suk, in honor of a well-known Czech composer. As the Iron Curtain fell on Eastern Europe, Lotte and Ernest moved with their toddler Hana to Paris, hoping to receive immigration certificates for Canada, where they could be reunited with Nelly. Lotte is the grandmother of Smith College professor Justin Cammy, with whom this personal archive now resides. Unless otherwise indicated, all documents and objects on this website are included in this archive. 

Postcard of Theresienstadt (1931)