-
1930's
Hitler and the Nazi party are telling the world that "Jews are a deceased race." -
October 4 1934
Lola was born -
November 9, 1938
A German officer is killed in Paris by a Jew. Sets off a backlash called the Night of Broken Glass -
Summer 1939
Czortkow starts having nightly blackouts. All streetlights are turned off, and Jews tape black paper over the windows so German Bombers can not see them when flying overhead -
1939
In Europe, at least 6 million Jews died in WWll. 1 1/2 million were children. Adults had a 33% chance of surviving but children only had a 10% chance. -
September 1, 1939
Hitler invades Poland, where 3.3 million Jews live -
September, 1939
Lola can walk freely around the marketplace. The Russian soldier arrive -
September 17, 1939
Russians take over the town -
1941
Hitler came up with a plan to execute all Europe's Jews called the Final Solution. -
Spring 1941
Lola is 6 and a half and goes to a nursery school with some of her cousins. There are about a dozen kids. -
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
The Germans made a law that anyone who provided shelter to Jews, or gave them food, or even sold them food, was to be killed -
December 7th 1941
The Japanese (that were sided with the Germans) bombed Pearl Harbor. -
April 1942
Now that the Germans are there they make all Jews in Czortkow must live in Ghettos (a series of streets and buildings that Jews must live in). You must have proper papers to leave the ghetto. -
Summer 1942
Lola father dies at home -
August 26-27
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 grandma 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 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 doesn't go with her. Tekla picks her up. -
Spring 1943
Tekla's son-in-law works in the fields even though it is still windy and cold. Lola is always scared of him -
June 1943
The final "action" happened late in June. The ghetto was "liquidated" and all the Jews were killed, including Babcia. -
Summer 1943
A couple of months after Lola got to the house, 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 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
Anna tells them that the Germans are losing the war and retreating. -
March 1944
They hear tanks and gunshots in the distance. Anna tells them that they are free. -
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 hole they were in for 9 months. -
March 23, 1944
Now that the Russians controlled the town, the Germans were officially liberated from Czortkow -
March 25-26, 1944
The Germans tried to come back and take back Czortkow. Lola has to leave because Rose won't take her back. -
April 4th 1944
Lola is 9 1/2 years old and was found passed out on the ground when walking from Czortkov. A man who knew her father finds her and brings her to a stranger's house leaves her there. -
April 10th 1944
Lola begs for food. A Russian soldier offers to take her to the orphanage in Kiev -
April 12 1944
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 Keiv but his plans have been changed and he has to go back from where they came. Sergei, a man who happened to be at the city ha;ll, offers to take Lola -
Summer 1944
The Germans are officially gone -
D-Day June 6, 1944
American and British soldiers land on the beaches of Normandy, France, and begin to push the Germans westward while the Russians are passing them eastward. This is the day America thinks is the beginning of the end of WWII. -
October 4, 1944
Lola turns 10 in in the Sergei's house. While Sergei tries to find more of her family she tries to fight her strong and hard emotions. -
April 12 1945
Sergei finally got in contact with Uncle George. He got in jail because he didn't have the proper papers and he is 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 1945
America drops two atomic on Japan -
August 14, 1945 (V-J day)
Japan surrenders -
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 feels no emotions when reunited. She's numb even though she knows it is an emotional moment -
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. -
Fall 1946
Lola, Uncle George, George's family, and Uncle Itch are moving from country to country trying to escape from the persecution of Jews -
December 1946 - January 1947
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. -
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 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 -
September 1950
Lola graduates at 16 with her compometer operator certificate. Starts working Saks 34th Street during the day and goes to high school at night, But later drops out of high school -
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—Dawoja and Walter's mother- Rachel. They live in a one-bedroom apartment -
1958
Lola's second child is born. Micheal Jay. He is named after Walter's 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
After living 13 years in America she opens the New York Post and finds that the person that killed her mother is finally going to jail for life. She is 28 years old and the man, Kurt Kollner, was sentenced to 9 life sentences for each person he killed. -
1966
Lola gives birth to her third child. Jeffery Scott. He is named after Lola's parental grandfather and her oldest uncle -
Memorial Day Weekend 1991
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. -
1993
Jane Mark's book on hidden children during WWll is published -
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. -
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'd dress travels to different states and cities. Lola travels with it and Sara Bloomfield where Sara gets Lola to publically speak about the events of WWll and the dress