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Hitler Becomes Leader
Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany. -
Nuremburg Laws
Nuremburg Laws are set in place and Jews are stripped of their rights. -
Nazis Take Poland
Nazis invade Poland. -
Leaving Lipno
Abe Korn was only 16 when his hometown of Lipno, Poland, was attacked by Hitler's air force, the Luftwaffe, on the first day of World War II, September 1, 1939. -
Kutno Ghetto
Early winter 1939- Abe's entire family is deported from Ostrowy to the Kutno Ghetto with the rest of the town's Jews. -
Abe and Garfingal Walk
Abe and Garfingal escape the Kutno Ghetto because of harsh conditions and walk to Krosniewice Ghetto where they have a little bit of freedom. -
Abe Goes to Camp Hardt
The first trip is to Camp Hardt in April 1941, near Posnan, Poland, when Abe and about 100 other men are deported from Krosniewice Ghetto. -
Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp
In February 1942, Abe is deported, again by cattle car, to Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp, near Wroclaw, Poland. As bad as conditions were at Camp Hardt, they are much worse at Gross-Rosen. -
Passenger Cars to Camp Dretz
When Abe gets to the train station this time, he and the rest of the prisoners in the transport are amazed to be boarding regular passenger cars when they had expected cattle cars. They are allowed to sit in passenger seats, just like paying customers. Abe and other prisoners travel from Gross-Rosen to Camp Dretz, near Berlin, Germany. -
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Auschwitz/Birkenau
In April 1943, all the camp's prisoners are deported. Abe and the other prisoners once again board cattle cars. hey ride for two days with no food, no water, no toilet facilities--with only dirty straw on the floor. They finally arrive at their destination, glad to finally be breathing fresh air when the cattle car doors are pulled open. Instead they are greeted with shouts of anger, with guns and bayonets pointed at them, and with guards holding back police dogs ready to tear them apart. A sten -
The Death March
In January 1945, the Russian front is nearing and all the Auschwitz prisoners are called to assembly. They are told they will be evacuating the camps and, on January 18, many thousands of prisoners are marched out of Auschwitz. Only those too sick to march are left behind. Abe is on a Death March with about 2000 prisoners. They march in the bitterly cold Polish winter with very little to eat , to drink, or to keep them warm. They march about 180 miles in 45 days, sleeping in open fields, barns, -
Open Railroad Car to Buchenwald
On the final leg of this journey, Abe and the other surviving prisoners are given a three-day ration of bread and potatoes. On the fourth day of this march, they are forced to board open freight cars at a railroad station for two more days of travel. They are given no additional food. Fortunately, Abe has conserved his bread, just in case. Even though it is now March, there is still snow falling and more prisoners die from starvation and exposure. Only about 200 of the original 2000 prisoners wh -
Liberation of Buchenwald
Abe is soon too sick to leave his bunk except to go to the bathroom. But soon he gets an unexpected surprise. He hears singing outside his barracks. When the huge barracks doors swing open, Nazi officers are marched in, bound in rope. They are followed by singing prisoners who are poking them with the Nazis' own rifles and bayonets. The former prisoners are followed by American soldiers, who stand there like giants in their camouflage uniforms and net-covered helmets. The prisoners at Buchenwal -
Hitler's Death
Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
