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PASSOVER
During her families Passover Seder in New Rochelle, New York, Hannah’s grandfather asks her to open the door for the prophet Elijah. Although she felt stupid and did not want to do it, she opened the door and was transported back to Poland 1942, during World War II. -
TAKEN FROM CHURCH
Hannah found herself in a small unfamiliar house with her aunt and uncle, everyone was calling her Chaya. Her uncle Shmuel was engaged to be married and they were preparing for the party, Hannah’s aunt braided her hair with blue ribbons. At the wedding party, the Nazis suddenly showed up and took everyone from the church saying they were going to be relocated. -
RIDE TO TRAIN STATION
Hannah, her family, and everyone from the wedding party were forced into Nazi trucks. All crushed together like they were, Hannah felt like cattle going to be slaughtered for the market. -
BOARDING BOXCARS
They were taken to the train station where armed guards were standing in front of the entrance. Everyone was forced to lay on the ground and robbed of their possessions. They were herded into two boxcars that were dark, hot, and cramped. Some did not survive the four day trip without food and water. -
ARRIVING AT CONCENTRATION CAMP
When they arrived at the concentration camp, families were split up and did not know the horrors that awaited them. Arbeit Macht Freis; German for “Work sets you Free”, was inscribed over the entrance in black iron. After being forced to take off all of their clothes and stand naked in a freezing room for 20 minutes, they were made to take ice cold showers. -
HEADS WERE SHAVED
The soldier then announced “Remember - no hair, no lice”! Lice, but we have no lice, Hannah thought. They sat on benches naked and cold for a long time while the barber worked on each of them. When it was her turn, Hannah bit her lip to keep from crying as her braids were chopped off whole and her head was shaved. They were then herded into a small room with low ceilings and given rags to dress in. -
TATOOS
A man then burned Hannah’s flesh with a tattoo pen leaving a trail of blue numbers on her arm right above the wrist, she did not cry. J197241 was now her new identity. -
WORK CAMP
Life is miserable at the work camp where they are forced to work non-stop and sleep on narrow shelves without blankets or pillows. A girl named Rivka befriends Hannah and explains how things work at the camp, she even gets her a job in the kitchen by bribing a soldier with a gold ring she had stolen. -
LITTLE TO EAT
Hannah awakens to a solder bellowing, "Hungry Jews are dead Jews! Dead Jews do not work!" which meant it was time to eat. There was very little food and the meals were always the same, watery potato soup and sometimes bread crusts. Hannah often gave her meals to the starving children in the camp. -
OVENS AT CONCENTRATION CAMPS
As they walked toward the building that contained the ovens, Hannah began to tell Shifre and Esther a story about a girl named Hannah Stern who lives in New Rochelle. They stopped at the dark door, took deep, ragged breaths and walked through the door.
The next thing Hannah saw was a green door marked 4N and a table full of food, she had been transported back to her grandparents in the Bronx in the current year of 1988.
