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Czortkow became part of Poland in 1918, 16 years before Lola is born.
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Hitler and the Nazi party are telling the world that Jews are a "diseased race"
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Lola is born
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a German officer is killed in Paris by a Jew. it sets off a backlash known as the Night of broken glass
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Czortkow starts having rolling blackouts. all the streetlights are turned off and Jews taper black paper over the windows so German bombers cannot see them when flying overhead.
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Six million Jews, of the 9 million who lived in Europe died during WWII, 1 1/2 million were Jewish children. adults had a 33% chance of surviving, and children only had a 10% chance.
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Hitler invades Poland, where 3.3 million Jews live.
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Lola is free to walk around the marketplace with her mother. The Russian soldiers arrive.
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The Russians take over the town.
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Lola is six and a half and is going to nursery school at her father's cousin's house. There are about a dozen other children.
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Hitler comes up with a plan to execute all of Europe's Jews. Its called the Final Solution.
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It was a Sunday, the Germans arrived in town marching with guns and tanks wearing goggles, tall black boots, and leather jackets.
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The Germans made a law that anyone providing shelter to Jews, giving them food, or selling them food, was to be killed.
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Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, bringing the Americans into the war.
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the Jews in Czortkow are confined to a ghetto, a series of streets and buildings where Jews must live. You must have proper papers to leave the ghetto.
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Lola's dad dies at home.
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The first "action" comes. For Germans, it means a day set aside for rounding up 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 and a wall of another apartment building next door.
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Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday. Lola's mother, a cousin, and two other women were killed by a German soldier, Kurt Kollner, enacting revenge for another soldier going into his territory and "shooting his Jews".
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A few months after Lola's mother is killed, Babcia takes Lola aside before bed, explaining she will be sneaking out of the ghetto that night. Babcia does not go with Lola. Tekla picks her up at the Bridge.
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Tekla's son-in-law works in the fields even though it's still windy and cold. Lola is always scared of him.
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A final "action" happened at the town of Czortkow was "liquidated" and all Jews were killed, including Babcia.
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A couple months after she arrived, a man and a woman came to the room where Lola was. The dog never barks. Lola pretends to be deaf and mute. The son-in-law says 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 three other Jews.
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Just after the new year of 1944, Anna tells Lola and the other that the Germans are losing the war and retreating.
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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.
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Anna comes and tells them they have been "liberated"by the Russians. Before sunrise, Lola and the others crawl out of the hole theyw ere in for 9 months
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Russians took control of Czortkow which was officially liberated.
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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.
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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 an brings her to a stranger's house, leaving her there. Russian soldiers come and take her to Dzymalow
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Lola has to beg for food. a Russian soldier offers to take her to the orphanage in Keiv.
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The Russian soldiers has to drop Lola off is the small town of Gritsev. He explains to the mayor that he was taking Lola to the orphanage in Keiv but his plans have been changed and he has to now go back to where they came. Sergei, a man who happened to be at city hall, offers to take Lola.
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Germans completely disappear from Czortkow.
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American and British soldiers land on the beaches of Normany, France, and begin to push the Germans westward, while the Russians are pushing them eastward. This is the day America thinks this is the beginning of the end of WWII.
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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 Czortkow to try to find the family of Lola.
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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 wasnt in the orphange. He goes without papers and is placed in jail, where he gets really sick.
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Adolf Hitler commits suicide.
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Germany surrendered. Known as "Victory in Europe Day".
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Poles and Ukrainians are still killing Jews even though the war is over
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America drops two atomic bombs on Japan.
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Japan surrenders. Known as "Victory over Japan Day".
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Lola gets on a train with a man named Romek heading to Krakow to be reunited with her uncle George. When she gets there she feels no emotions when reunited. She's numb even though she knows it is an emotional moment.
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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 between the Poles and Jews has not gone away.
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Lola, Uncle George, Uncle George's family, and Uncle Itch are moving from country to country trying to escape the persecution of Jews.
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Lola finds herself in a displaced persons 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
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Lola finally gets clearance to travel to America. Uncle George and his family received clearance the year prior but waited for Lola.
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Lola starts high school but drops out to work full time because she takes care of herself not asking her aunt of uncle for anything.
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Lola is a teenager but feels like a child. being able to walk is the only thing she knows for sure.
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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.
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Lola goes to Brighton Beach where she meets her husband. He is 11 years older and is from Poland as well.
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Lola and Walter get married. Lola goes back to school and gets her high school diploma
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Lola is 21 and works until the birth of her first child, Debora Renee. She was named after her mother Dworja and after Walter's mother Rachel. They live in a one bedroom apartment in Brooklyn
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Lola's second child is born, Michael Jay. He's 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 Long Island.
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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 MURDERS." Kurt Kuller was found guilty of killing Jews in Czortkow in the years of 1942-1943. Her mother's murderer was held accountable in a German court for his wrongdoings.
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Lola gives birth to her third child Jeffery Scott. He is named after Lola's Grandfather and her oldest uncle.
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50 years of silence was broken when Jane Marks asks Lola for and interview for a book on hidden children.
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Jane Mark's book on hidden children during WWII was published.
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Anna Aksencuk, the non-Jew who hid Lola in the hole, was officially recognized as one of the "righteous among nations" in Isreal.
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Lola got a letter from the U.S. Holocaust museum in Washington D.C. looking for artifacts that survived the war. Lola donates the dress she wore for 9 months.
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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 of WWII and the dress
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Lola writes and published The Hidden Girl
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Lola passed away at the age of 79.