The Hidden Girl

  • 1918

    Czortkow became part of Poland in 1918, 16 years before Lola was born.
  • 1930's

    Hitler and Nazi party are telling the would that "Jews are a diseased race".
  • October 4, 1934

    Lola was born
  • November 9,1938

    A German officer is killed in Paris by a Jew . sets off a blacklash known as the night of broken Glass.
  • Europe 1939

    Six million Jews, of the nine million who lived in Europe, died during WWll. 1 1/2 were Jewish children. Adult had a 33% chance of surviving, and children only had 10% chance.
  • Summer 1939

    Czortkow starts having rolling blackouts. All the streetlights are turned off, and Jews tape black paper over the windows so German bombers can see them flying overhead.
  • September 1, 1939

    Hitler invades Poland, where 3.3 million Jews live.
  • September 1939

    Lola is free to walk around the market place wither mother. The Russian soldiers arrive.
  • September 17, 1939

    The Russians take over Czortkow.
  • Spring 1941

    Lola is six and a half and is going to nursery school at her fathers cousins house. there are about a dozen other kids there, too.
  • 1941

    Hitler comes up with a plan to execute all of Europe's Jews. It's called the Final solution.
  • July 6, 1941

    It was a Sunday, the Germans arrived in town marching with guns and goggles, tall black boots, and leather jackets.
  • October 15, 1941

    The Germans made a law that anyone providing shelter to Jews, giving them food, or even selling them food, was to be killed.
  • December 7, 1941

    Japan bombs pearl Harbor in Hawaii, bringing the Americans into war.
  • April 1942

    The Jews in Czortkow are confined to a ghetto, a series of streets and building where Jews must live you must have proper papers to leave the the ghetto.
  • summer 1942

    Lola's dad 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 Jew and sending 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 Kollner, enacting revenge for another German soldier going into his territory and "shooting his Jews".
  • May1943

    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. tekla picks Lola up at the bridge.
  • spring 1943

    Tekla's son-in-law works in the fields even though it still windy and cold. Lola is always scarfed him.
  • June 1943

    A final "action" happened and the town of Czortkow was "liquidated", and all Jews were killed including Babcia.
  • Summer 1943

    A couple months after Lola got to the house, a man and a woman came to the room where Lola was. The dog never. Lola pretends to be a deaf and mute. The son-in-law says the next he is taking Lola to the gestapo. Tekla takes Lola in the middle of the night Anna, where she is put into 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 foot hole with three other Jews.
  • January 1944

    Just after the new year 1944, Anna tells Lola and the other 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 the crack of gunfire. to Lola, this time it is a wonderful sound.
  • A morning in March 1944

    Anna comes to tells them they have been "liberated" by the Russians. before sunrise, Lola and the others crawl out of the hole they were in for 9 months.
  • March 23, 1944

    Russians control Czortkow which was officially liberated on March 23, 1944.
  • March 25-26, 1944

    Germans come back to Czortkow trying to reclaim the territory. Lola had to leave Czortkow because Rose wouldn't take her back to the farmhouse.
  • April 4, 1944

    Lola is 9 1/2 years old and was found passed out on the ground when walking from Czortkow, A man who knew her father finds her and brings her to a strangers house, leaving her there. Russians soldiers come and taker her to Dzymalow.
  • April 12, 1944

    The Russians soldiers has to drop Lola off in the small town of Gritsev. He explains to the mayor that he was taking Lola to the orphanage in Kiev but his plans have been changed and he has to now go back where they came. Sergei, a man who happened to be at city hall, offers to take Lola.
  • may 15, 1944

    Germans completely disappear from Czortkow.
  • D-Day June 6, 1944

    Americans and British soldiers land on the beaches of Normandy, France, and begin push the Germans westward , while the Russians and pushing them eastward, This is the day America thinks is the beginning of the end of WWll.
  • April 10, 1944

    Lola has to beg for food. A Russians soldiers offers to take her to the orphanage in Kiev.
  • 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 overs losing her family and being tossed from one place to another. Feelings of being unwanted. Sergei has been writing letters to Czortkow to try to find the family of Lola.
  • April 12, 1945

    Sergei finally gets into 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.
  • April 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 of 1945

    Americans 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 Krakow to be reunited with her uncle George. When she gets there, she feel no emotions when reunited. she's numb even though she knows its an emotional moment.
  • September 15, 1946

    Lola's Uncle Issac 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.
  • Late summer 1946

    Lola's uncle Issac shows up at Uncle George's house. Lola likes Krakow. however they don't don't stay long and end up leaving up because the tension between the Piles and Jewa has not gone away.
  • Fall 1946

    Lola, Uncle George, Uncles George's family, and Uncle Itch are moving from country to country trying to escape the persecution of Jews.n
  • December 1946- January 1947

    Lola finds herself in Eschwege, Germany in a displaced person's camp run by the United Nations. She spent over a year there. Lola tries to go to israel because she doesn't want to go to America.
  • July 7, 1949

    Lola finally gets clearance to go to america. Uncle George and his family received clearance the year prior but waited for Lola.
  • September 1949

    Lola starts high school but drops out to work full time because she takes care of herself, not asking her aunt or uncle for anything.
  • October 4, 1949

    Lola is a teenager but still feels like a child. being able to walk is the only thing she knows for sure.
  • September 1950

    Lola graduates at 16 with her comptometer operator certificate. she starts working at Saks Fifth Avenue on 34th Street during the day and attends high school at night, but again drops out.
  • October 19, 1951

    Lola goes to Brighton Beach, where she meets her husband. he is 11 years older and from Poland as well.
  • April 1952

    Lola and Walter get married. Lola returns to school and earns her high school diploma.
  • April 1952

    Lola and Walter get married. Lola returns to school and ears 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 Walyter's , Rachel. They live in a one-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn.
  • 1958

    Lola's second child is born, Micheal Jay. He is named afters Walter's father and Lola's father. Walter has gone to school to design and create patterns for coats and suits. They moved 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 LIFE IN 9 MURDERS. Kurt Kullner 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 wrongdoings.
  • 1966

    Lola gives birth to her third child, Jerffery 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 asked Lola for a Interview for a book on hidden children. Jane unlocks not just Lolas words but her emotions too.
  • 1993

    Jane Mark's book on hidden children during WWll was published
  • November 21, 1994

    Anna Akenczuk, 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.
  • 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, Sara gets Lola to publicly speak about the events WWll and the dress.
  • 2008

    Lola writes and publishes The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust.
  • October 1, 2014

    Lola passed away at age 79.