At this time of year, families exchange New Year greetings with warmth and optimism. Today we might telephone, send a card through the post or simply write an email or text. 

In September 1943, my mother, Zahava Kanarek, then eight years old, made a New Year card for her parents. She was imprisoned with them in Westerbork transit camp, in Holland. 

I don’t know much about how and when the card was created. In 1943, Rosh Hashanah fell on September 28. I suspect my mother made it a few days before the new year.

Measuring just 15.5 x 14 centimeters, Zahava’s Rosh Hashanah greeting is made from what appears to be a discarded piece of pale yellow card and remains in remarkable, almost pristine, condition. Most of the message is written in pencil, while the Hebrew lettering has been carefully colored in red, yellow and blue, each word picked out in a different color. Around the edge, Zahava decorated the card with colored dots and flowers and drew several traditional symbols of the Jewish New Year: a shofar (ram’s horn), a pot of honey, an apple, symbolizing the hope for a sweet year ahead, and a Star of David. 

Remarkably, my grandmother Rosy preserved this card through Westerbork, Bergen-Belsen and the postwar years that followed. Among the many family heirlooms I have inherited, this small simple card, made with great care by an eight-year-old, is one of the most treasured. It prompts many........

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