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Hitler and the Nazi party are telling the world that "Jews are a diseased race."
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Lola was born.
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A German officer is killed in Paris by a Jew. 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 tape black paper over the windows so German bombers can not see them when flying overhead.
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Hitler invades Poland where 3.3 million Jews live. England and France declare war on Germany. This is the beginning of World War II.
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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 of Czortkow.
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Hitler comes up with a plan to execute all of Europe's Jews. It is called the Final Solution.
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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 kids there too.
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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 even selling them food, is to be killed.
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Japan bombs Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, bringing America into the war.
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The Jews in Czoortkow 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 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.
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Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday. Lola's mother, a cousin, and 2 other women are killed by a German soldier, Kurt Kollner, enacting revenge for another German 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 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.
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Tekla's son-in-law works in the fields even though it is still windy and cold. Lola is always scared of him because he doesn't want her there.
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A final "action" happened and the town of Czortkow was "liquidated" and all Jews were killed, including Babcia.
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A couple of months after Lola got to the house, a man and woman came to the room where Lola was. 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 to her sister, Anna, in the middle of the night. Anna places Lola in a 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 foot hole with 3 other Jews.
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Just after the new year of 1944, Anna tells Lola and the others 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 tells them they have been 'liberated' by the Russians. Before sunrise, the next day, Lola and the others crawl out of the hole they had been in for 9 months.
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Russians control Czortkow, which was officially liberated on March 23, 1944,
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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, brings her to a stranger's house, and leaves her there. Russian soldiers come and take her 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 soldier 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 go back from where they came now. Sergei, a man who happened to be at city hall, offers to take Lola.
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American and British soldiers landed on the beaches of Normandy, France, and began to push the Germans westward while the Russians were pushing them eastward. This is the day America thinks is the beginning of the end of WWII.
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Germans completely disappear from Czortkow.
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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 and find family of Lola's.
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Sergei finally gets into contact with Lola's uncle George. He is living in Lwow. He is one of Lola's mother's brothers. Uncle George goes to Kiev to look for Lola, not realizing she isn't in the orphanage. 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 and is 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 surrendered which is known as "Victory over Japan Day".
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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 feels no emotions when reunited. She's numb even though she knows it is an emotional moment.
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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.
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Lola, Uncle George, Uncle George's family, and Uncle Itch are moving from country to country trying to escape from the persecution of Jews.
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Lola finds herself in Eschwege 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.
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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. She doesn't ask her aunt or uncle for anything.
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Lola is a teenager but still feels like a child. The only thing she knows for sure is that she can walk. This is stemming from her trauma during WWII.
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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.
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Lola goes to Brighton Beach where she meets her husband. He is 11 years older and from Poland too.
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Lola and Walter get married. Lola goes to school and gets her high school diploma.
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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.
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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 of Long Island.
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Lola is 28 years old and has lived 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 Kollner 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.
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Lola gives birth to her third child, Jeffery Scott. He is named after Lola's paternal grandfather and her oldest uncle.
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50 years of silence was broken when Jane Marks asked Lola for an interview for a book on hidden children. Jane unlocks not just Lola's words but her emotions, too.
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Jane Marks's book on hidden children during WWII is published. Lola's story has been told for the first time.
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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" ceremony in Israel.
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Lola receives a letter from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. looking for artifacts that survived WWII. Lola donates the dress she wore for the 9 months in the hole.
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Lola's dress travels to different states and cities. Lola travels with it and Sara Bloomfield where Sara gets Lola to speak about the events of WWII and the dress.
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Lola Rein Kaufman writes 'The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust'.
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Lola passed away at the age of 79.