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1930's
Hitler and the other Nazi party are telling the world that "Jews are a diseased race." -
October 4, 1934
Lola was born -
November, 9th 1938
A German officer is killed in Paris by a Jew. Nazis break the windows in synagogues, set them on fire, and smashed the windows of Jewish-owned stores. Known as Night of the broken glass. -
Summer 1939
Czortkow starts having nightly blackouts. All the streetlights are turned off, and the Jews tape black paper over the windows so German bombers can not see them when flying overhead. -
Europe 1939
Six million Jews died during WWII, 1 and a half million were Jewish children. Adults had a 33% chance of surviving, children only had 10% -
September 1, 1939
Hitler invades Poland, where 3.3 million Jews live, more than any country in Europe. England and France declare war on Germany. This is the beginning of the Second World War, which lasts six terrible years. -
September 1939
Lola is free to walk around the marketplace with her mother. Russian soldiers arrive. -
September 17, 1939
The Russians take over the town. -
1941
Hitler comes up with a plan to execute all of Europe's Jews, called the Final Solution -
Spring of 1941
Lola is six and a half years old, and going to nursery school at her father's cousin's house. There are about a dozen other kids there too. -
July, 6, 1941
It was a Sunday, the Germans arrived in town marching with guns, and tanks, wearing goggles, tall black boots, and leather jackets. -
October 15, 1941
Germans made a law that anyone who hid, helped for even sold food to the Jews was to be killed. -
December 7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, bringing the Americans into the War. -
December 7th 1941
The Japanese, (who sided with the Germans), bombed Pearl Harbor. Bringing the US into the war -
April 1942
The Jews are confined to a ghetto, a series of streets a buildings where Jews must live. You must have proper papers to leave the ghetto. -
Summer 1942
Lola's father dies at home -
August 26-27 1942
The first "action" comes, for Germans it means a day set aside for rounding up huge numbers of Jews and sending them by train to the concentration camps. Lola, her mother, and her grandmother hide in a narrow space between a storage area wall and a wall of another apartment building next door. -
March 21, 1943
Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday. Lola's mother, a cousin, and 2 other women were killed by a German soldier, Kurt Kolliner, enacting revenge for another German soldier going into his territory and killing a jew. -
May 1943
A few months after Lola's mother is killed. Babcia takes Lola aside right before bed, explaining she will be sneaking out of the ghetto that night. Babcia does not go with Lola. -
Spring 1943
It's windy and cold. Tekla's son-in-law works in the fields, even though it's windy and cold. Lola is always scared of him. -
June of 1943
The "final" action happened in Czortkow. The ghetto was liquidated, and all the Jews in it were killed. If Germans thought Jews were hiding in a building, they burned it down. Babcia was killed along with very many other Jews. -
Summer 1943
A couple of months after Lola gets to the house, a man and a woman come to the room where Lola is. The dog never barks. Lola pretends to be deaf and mute. The son-in-law says that the next day he is taking Lola to the Gestapo. Tekla takes Lola in the middle of the night to Anna, where she is put into a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 foot hole with 3 other Jews. -
January 1944
Just after the new year 1944, Anna tells Lola and the others that the Germans are losing the war and retreating. -
March 1944
Lola and the others hear fighting nearby. They can hear the tanks rumbling and a crack of gunfire. To Lola this time it is a wonderful sound. -
A morning in March, 1944
Anna comes and tells them they have been "liberated" by the Russians. Before sunrise Lola and the others crawl out of the dark hole that they have has been in hiding in for 9 months. -
March 23, 1944
All the Germans have fled, and Russians now control Czortkow. It was officially liberated on March 23, 1944 -
April 4, 1944
Rose won't bring Lola back into the farmhouse and makes her follow the crowd out of Czortkov. Lola is 9 1/2 years old. She is found passed out and gets taken to a strangers house. -
April 10, 1944
Lola begged for food, a Russian soldier offers to take her to an orphanage in Kiev -
April 12, 1944
The Russian soldier has to drop Lola off in the small town of Gristev. He explains to the mayor that he was taking Lola to the orphanage in Kiev but his plans have been changed, and he now has to go back. Sergei a man who happened to be at city hall, offers to take Lola. -
Summer 1944
The Germans return for several days, but in the summer of 1944, the Germans completely disappeared. -
D-Day June 6, 1944
American and British landed on the beaches of Normandy and France and begin to push Germans westward while the Russians were pushing them eastward. This is the day America thinks this is the beginning of the end of WWII. -
October 4, 1944
Lola turns 10 years old while living with Sergei. She is sad and upset, but will not let anyone know. She is dealing with big emotions over losing her family and being tossed from one place to another. Feelings of being unwanted. Sergei has been writing letters to Czortkov to try and find the family of Lola's. -
April 12, 1945
Sergei finally gets in contact with Lola's uncle George. He is living in Lwow now. He is one of Lola's mother's brothers. Uncle George goes to Keiv to look for Lola, not realizing she wasn't in the orphanage. He goes without papers and is placed in jail where he gets really sick. -
May 30, 1945
Adolf Hitler commits suicide. -
V-E Day May 7, 1945
Germany surrendered. Known as "Victory in Europe Day" -
Summer 1945
Poles and Ukrainians are still killing Jews even though the war is over. -
Early August 1945
America drops two atomic bombs on Japan -
V-J Day. August 14, 1945
Japan Surrenders. Known as Victory over Japan Day. -
September 1945
Lola gets onto a train with a man named Romek heading to Krawkow. When she sees Uncle George she has no emotions when reunited, she feels almost numb. It's an emotional moment. -
Fall 1946
Lola, Uncle George, his family, and Uncle Itch, are moving from country to country trying to escape from the persecution of Jews. -
Late Summer 1946
Lola's Uncle Isaac shows up at Uncle George's house. Lola likes Krakow. However, they don't stay long and end up leaving because the tension between the Poles and Jews has not gone away. -
December 1946- January 1947
Lola finds herself in Eshwege, Germany in a displaced person's camp run by the United Nations. She spends over a year there. Lola tries to go to Israel because she doesn't want to go to America. -
September 1949
Lola starts highschool but drops out to work full time because she takes care of herself not asking her aunt or uncle for anything. -
July 7, 1949
Lola finally gets clearance to travel to America. Uncle George and his family received clearance the year prior but waited for Lola. -
September 1950
Lola graduates at 16 with her comptometer operator certificate. She starts working at Saks 34th Street during the day and goes to high school at night, but again drops out. -
October 1951
Lola goes to Brighton Beach where she meets her husband. He is 11 years older and from Poland too. -
April 1952
Lola and Walter get married. Lola goes back to school and gets her high school diploma. -
1955
Lola is 21 and worked until the birth of her first child, Deborah Renee. She was named after her mother Dworja and after Walter's mother Rachel. They live in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. -
1958
Lola's second child is born, Michael Jay. He is named after Walter's father and Lola's father. Walter has gone to school to design and create patterns for coats and suits. They move to the suburbs in Long Island. -
June 26, 1962
Lola is 28 years old and has been living in America for 13 years. She opens the New York Post and sees an article with the headline NAZI OFFICER GETS LIFE IN 9 MURDERERS. Kurt Kollinur was found guilty of killing Jews in Czortkow in the years 1942-1943. Her mother's murderer was held accountable in a German court for his wrong doings. -
1966
Lola gives birth to her third child, Jefferey Scott. he is named after Lola's paternal grandfather and her oldest uncle. -
Memorial Day Weekend 1991
50 years of silence was broken when Jane Marks asks Lola for an interview for a book on hidden children. Jane unlocks Lola's words, and emotions. -
November 21, 1994
Anna Aksenczuk, the non-Jew who hid Lola in the hole, was officially recognized as one of the "righteous" at the "The Righteous Among the Nations" in Israel -
1993
Jane Marks's book on hidden children during WWII is published -
2001
Lola receives a letter from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. looking for artifacts that survived the war. Lola donates the dress she wore for 9 months. -
2002
Lola's dress travels to different states and cities. Lola travels with it and Sara Bloomfield where Sara gets Lola to publicly speak about the events of WWII and the dress