Miley, Hanna

Hanna Miley was born Johanna Zack in Bonn, Germany on February 18, 1932, eleven months prior to Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor of Germany. She was an only child, and she lived in the small community of Gemunde along the Rhine River, which had a small Jewish community. During Kristallnacht the family of three was expelled from their small town, forced to relocate to the nearby city of Cologne. Her father had been forced to sell his business during the Aryanization campaign not long before this, and on Kristallnacht rampaging locals were vandalizing Jewish property all over the country. Hanna’s father learned of the kindertransport during this time, and he made arrangements for Hanna to go to England. She said goodbye to her parents and boarded the train and a ship to cross the Channel. Once in England, she stayed with two different families. The first family had a young son named Roddy, while the other family was older and more strict. She was required to register as an Enemy Alien, and she lost her German citizenship. Hanna lived near Coventry and as such she experienced the Blitz as the city was heavily bombed. At the war’s end, at age 13, Hanna remarked, “it was an incredible release. Great Joy. Celebrating like getting out of prison!” A letter from the Red Cross informed her that her parents did not survive:  they had been sent to their deaths in Poland. Hanna had hatred for those who wronged her family, but gradually she found the ability to forgive, a theme that was prominent in her writings and the film I was 8814. She and her husband emigrated to the US in 1984, first to California and later Arizona. Hanna is an active advocate for Holocaust education; as she puts it, “I share my story for the others who didn’t make it. I’m a witness!” Crestwood students were able to zoom with Hanna Milley in March 2026, and we thank the Phoenix Holocaust Association for facilitating this exchange.