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Daniel's Time in Frankfurt, Germany
Daniel grew up in Germany and life was normal until "The Night of Broken Glass." -
Kristallnacht
This was known as "The Night of Broken Glass." Jewish synagogues, shops, etc. were raided and destroyed by the Germans. Daniel's father's shop was destroyed on this night, and he almost didn't make it home. -
Deportations
Daniel and his family were all taken to Lodz, Poland against their will. Conditions were good compared to what comes next three years later. -
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Daniel's Time In Lodz, Poland
In Lodz, the Jews were in a ghetto. Daniel meets Rosa here, a girl who he likes. She gives him strength when he leaves because he wants to see her again. -
The Meeting
Daniel meets a girl named Rosa and she invites him and his sister Erika to a meeting of kids in the Jewish ghetto in Lodz. This is a small group that talks about the war and how to survive. -
The "Wedding Invitations"
The Jews had been slowly clearing the ghetto in Lodz, and now they were completely destroying it. All the families get orders to leave their homes and report to the next leaving train to work for Germany's war effort. Daniel and his cousin stay behind and hide, and his father, mother, and his sister go on the train. Daniel is caught and put on the same train. They are going to Auschwitz, a work camp that was built for killing. -
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Daniel's Time In Auschwitz, Poland
In Auschwitz, the remaining Jews who can work are forced to work. -
The Seperation
Daniel and his family had a plan for when they were being deported. Daniel and his cousin were to stay behind and go to hide while Daniel's father, mother, and sister went on the train to leave like they were supposed to. Daniel's cousin went first and made it, but Daniel got caught and got put on the same train as his father. They are taken to a place called Auschwitz where another work camp is based. They also find out that Daniel's mom and sister are dead. -
The Sister Found Alive!
One day while Daniel and his father are being taken to work in Auschwitz, they see Daniel's sister Erika playing a violin in a band. At work, Daniel writes her a note that says he's alive. While the workers are being marched back from work Daniel throws her the note. She sees it and drops her violin bow to pick it and the note up. After a while, Daniel wanted to talk to Erika, so he threw her another note that said "FENCE." They met but Erika was taken away and not seen in her band the next day. -
The Pictures
Daniel finds Adam, a boy from the youth group in Lodz, who is part of the resistance. Adam asks Daniel to take pictures of the Jews' burning bodies to be smuggled to the Allies. Daniel accepts the job. A fake German soldier gets Daniel and some other workers one day and takes them to carry wood into the fire pit. When they get there, the soldier punches Daniel and makes him fall down, and he slips him a camera. Daniel gets the pictures and slips the camera back. They are successfully delivered. -
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Daniel's Time On The March Away From Auschwitz
The Russians were getting closer to Poland, so the Germans ordered the Jews out of the camp in Auschwitz. They marched for a month and if you fell or tripped, you were shot and killed. They marched until they got to trains. Then they were taken to Buchenwald, Germany. There they are cleaned and given new clothes and asked about anything they can do to work. -
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Daniel's Time in Buchenwald
The camp in Buchenwald was not a killing camp, but a work place for prisoners. There were Jews as well as political prisoners as well. -
Jobs for Jews
Daniel and his father get jobs at the new work camp in Buchenwald. But this camp is different because there are political prisoners here as well as Jews, and it is not a death camp. Daniel gets a job as a photographer taking pictures of SS guards and their families. But eventually, the SS guards don't need or want pictures because the Allies are coming and they know they are going to lose. -
When Prisoners Attack
A rebellion in the camp at Buchenwald was growing fast. They were seemingly working fast but actually very slow, and at night workers would tear down what they built. The Allies were reaching Germany. The rebels decided to strike. They were each given a firearm to hide, and when an explosion went off, the prisoners were to overrun the guards. This worked, and Daniel and his father were a part of it. They felt a sense of relief when it was over. They were free. -
No End To Jews Struggles
The Jews are still dying because they couldn't regain health. Daniel and his father go back to Lodz to find Freidrich, and they take Peter, a boy Daniel met on the march from Auschwitz, with them. They are on a train which stopped for a while in a small city in Poland on the way to Lodz. Daniel and Peter get off to stretch, and some Polish farm boys beat them up because they were Jews. Daniel shoots one of them, and Peter is badly hurt. He is taken to a hospital while in a coma. -
A Happy Ending
Peter dies in the hospital. Daniel goes back to the ghetto in Lodz and finds Rosa, where they decide to marry and go live in Palestine, and they dedicate their lives to making sure this never happened again.