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1930's
Hitler and the Nazi party are telling the world that "Jews are a diseased race" -
October 4, 1934
Lola was born -
November 9, 1938
A German officer got killed in Paris by a Jew,sets off a backlash called the night of broken glass. -
Summer of 1939
Crotzkov starts having blackouts,all street lights go out,and Jews tape black paper over the window so German bombers can not see them when flying overhead -
September 1, 1939
Hitler invades Poland where 3.3 million Jews live, the beggining of WWII -
September 1939
Lola is free to walk around the marketplace because in that time it was under Russian control and it wasn't the Germans. -
September 17, 1939
Russians take over the town of czortkow -
1941
Hitler comes up with a plan to execute all of europe's Jews, it is called the final solution -
Spring 1941
Lola goes to nursing school at her fathers cousins house, there are about a dozen other kids there too,She is 6 and a half -
July 6, 1941
It was a Sunday,the Germans arrived in town marching with guns and tanks,wearing goggles,tall black boots, and a leather jacket -
October 15, 1941
The Germans made a rule that if you are sheltering,giving food,or even selling food to a Jew you will get killed -
December 7, 1941
Japan bombs pearl harbor in Hawaii,bringing america into the war -
April 1942
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 -
Summer 1942
Lola's dad dies at home. -
August 26-27, 1942
The first "Action" comes, for Germans,it means a day set aside for rounding up huge numbers of Jews and sending them by trains to 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. -
March 21, 1943
Today is Purim, a Jewish holiday, lola's mother, a cousin, and two other women are killed by a German soldier,Kurt Kollner,enacting revenge for another German soldier going into his territory and shooting his Jews. -
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 does not go with Lola,Teka picks Lola up at the bridge. -
Spring 1943
Tekla's son in law works in the fields even thought it is still windy and cold,Lola is always scared of him because he dosen't want her around -
Summer 1943
a couple of months after Lola got to the house,a man and a woman come to the room where Lola was, the dog never barks,Lola pretends to be deaf and mute,the son in law says he's done and he's taking her to the gastapo,that night tekka took her to her sister., Anna places Lola in a 6X2 hole with 3 other jews -
June 1943
A final “action” happened and the town of Czortkow was “liquidated” and all Jews were killed, including Babcia. -
January 1944
Just after the new year of 1944, Anna tells Lola and the others that the germans are losing the war and are retreating -
March 1944
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 -
A morning in March 1944
Anna comes and tells them that they have been liberated by the Russians,by the next day they crawl out of the hole they were in for 9 months -
March 23, 1944
Russians control Czortkow which was officially liberated on March 23, 1944. -
March 25-26, 1944
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. -
April 4, 1944
Lola is 9 ½ years old and was found passed out on the ground when walking from Czortkow. A man who knows her father finds her, brings her to a stranger’s house, and leaves her there. Russian soldiers come and take her Dzymalow. -
April 10, 1944
Lola has to beg for food. A Russian soldier offers to take her to the orphanage in Kiev. -
April 12,1944
the Russian soilder has to drop off Lola in the small town of gitsev,he explains to the mayor that he was taking Lola to the orphanage in Kiev but his plans have been changed and has to go back from where they came now,siergi, a man who happens to be at city hall offers to take lola -
D-Day June 6, 1944
American and British soldiers land on the beaches of Normandy,France and began to push the Germans westward,while Russia was pushing them eastward,This is the day americia thinks its the beginging and end of WWII -
Summer 1944
Germans completely disappear from Czortkow. -
October 4, 1944
lola turns ten years old while living with sergi,she is sad and upset but will not let anybody know,she is dealing with big emotions over losing her family,being tossed over to once place to another,not feeling like anyone wants her and sergi writes letters to see if Lola has any family -
April 12,1945
Sergi finally gets into contact with lola's Uncle George,he is living in lolow he is one of lola's mother's brother's ,Uncle George goes to Kiev to look for Lola,not realizing she isn't in the orphanage and he didn't go with papers and goes to jail and gets really sick -
April 30,1945
This is the day that Hitler committed suicide -
V-E Day May 7, 1945
Germany surrendernd and is 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 bombs on Japan -
V-J Day August 14, 1945
Japan surrendered and it is known as "victory over Japan day" -
Late summer, 1946
Lola's Uncle Issac shows up at Uncle Georges house, Lola likes Krakow, however, they didn't stay long and end up leaving because the tension between the Jews and poles have not gone away. -
Fall 1946
Lola,Uncle George,Uncle Georges family and uncle itch are moving from country to country trying to escape the perscation of the jews -
December 1946- January 1947
Lola finds herself is eschwege Germany at a displaced person's camp run by the united nations,she spends over a year there,Lola tries to go to Israel because she didn't want to go to america -
July 7, 1949
Lola finally gets clearance to travel to America, Uncle george's family and his family recived clerance the year prior but waited for lola -
September,1949
Lola starts highschool but drops out to work full time because she takes care of herself, she dosen't ask her aunt and uncle for anything -
October,1949
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. -
September,1950
Lola graduates at 16 with her comptemeter operator certificate,she starts working at Saks 34th Street during the day and goes to high school at night,but again drops out. -
1955
Lola is 21 and worked until the first birth of her child,Deborah Renee,she was named after her mother,Dwjora, and after walter's mother,Rachel.,They live in a one bedroom apartment in brooklyn -
1958
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. -
June 26, 1962
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. -
1966
Lola gives birth to her third child,Jeffery Scott,he is named after lola's paternal 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 Marks’s book on hidden children during WWII 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 WWII. Lola donates the dress she wore for the 9 months in the hole. -
2002
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. -
2008
Lola Rein Kaufman writes ‘The Hidden Girl: A True Story of the Holocaust’. -
October 1, 2014
Lola passed away at the age of 79.