Lisa

__**These are some pictures of Inge Auerbacher:**__ This is a photo of Inge This is a book that she wrote. when she was a little girl.
 * This is some interesting facts about Inge Auerbacher, a Holocaust survivor.**

 __Th**//is is a book://**__
 * __//Some Links://__**
 * [|www.ingeauerbacher.com]
 * []
 * Auerbacher, Inge. __I Am A Star__. New York: Scholastic Inc., 2006.

// // __After the Holocaust__ //
 * __Interesting facts:__** //
 * She was born on December 31, 1934 in Kippenheim.
 * Her mother’s name is Regina Auerbacher and her father’s name is Berthhold.
 * On November 9, 1938, Kristallnacht took place.
 * In 1933-1938, the Jews were not allowed to have a job or ownership of land. That forced Inge and her family had to move in with Inge’s grandparents.
 * Inge spent alot of her childhood when she was at her grandparents.
 * Inge had many friends.
 * Little did she know, that her and her friends sang songs that had racist slurs!
 * Inge and her family then lived in the town of Goeppingen.
 * Inge was one of the one hundred children who survived the Holocaust.
 * Inge and her family went back to their home, which had been given away when they were forced into concentration camps.
 * The people that were living there let the Auerbachers stay at their home for a little while.
 * The auerbachers then moved to America.


 * __

Reasearch Paper __** The Holocaust of World War I changed the lives of millions of people. One life that was forever altered during the Holocaust was survivor Inge Auerbacher. Inge Auerbacher was one of one hundred children who survived the camp at Terezin.

Inge Auerbacher was born on December 31, 1934, in Kippenheim. Inge was the only child of Berthhold and Regina Auerbacher. Inge’s father was born in Kippenheim, Southern Germany. Inge’s mother was born in a much smaller village called Jebenhausen. Her father had received the Iron Cross for being wounded in World War I for his service for his country. Many of Inge’s relatives also lived in Kippenheim. On November 9, 1938, riots took place throughout Germany. Those riots were called Kristallnacht, otherwise known as “The Night of Broken Glass.” Inge Auerbacher was only three years old when Kristallnacht took place. Between 1933-1938, Hitler wanted to deprive all of the Jews of their rights, such as jobs, businesses, and ownership of land. Inge’s father lost his business because of what Hitler did. Since Inge’s father lost his job, the family packed their belongings and moved out of Germany on May 1939. Inge and her family stayed with Inge’s grandparents in Jebenhausen for two years. While Inge was living in Jebenhausen, she enjoyed her childhood by playing with other children and singing songs. Most of her happiest childhood memories were from living in Jebenhausen. Sometime in November 1939, Inge’s father and grandfather were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. However, they both came back from Dachau. In Dachau, they had been brutally beaten and treated unfairly. Inge, however, did not know about what had happened to her father and grandfather in the concentration camp. She was just glad to have them back home.

The Jews started getting more and more restrictions from the Nazis. They were forced to take Israel for the boys’ names and Sara for the girls’ names. This was so the Jews would be easier to recognize. They Jews were also forced to give up their silver and gold. They were forbidden to associate with Christians. However, most of the Christians in town still remained friends with Inge and her family.

Additional restrictions said that Jewish children were not permitted to attend regular schools with Germans. This caused Inge to have to walk two miles to Goeppingen, a town that was larger than Jebenhausen, and then travel one hour by train to Stuttgart where her school was located. However, Jews were also no longer allowed to travel freely. Because the Jews were not allowed to travel freely, Inge had to get special permission to travel to school.

On September 1, 1941, Jews were forced to sew the Star of David on their shirts with the word Jude in the middle of it. “Jude” is the German word for “Jew”. The Jews were not allowed to hide the star that was on their shirt, but Inge tried covering the star wherever she was traveling alone. She did that so she would not be teased or picked on. Luckily, there were some people who took sympathy on her when she did not cover her star. One of those people left a basket of food for Inge. Inge was only six years old when she had to travel alone to get to school.

In 1941, the Nazis began deportations to the “East”. One-morning, Inge’s grandmother and parents received an order to transport. Inge’s father was a veteran of World War I, and the family used his disability to help spare them. This only helped Inge, her father, and her mother. Inge’s grandmother, however, was sent to Einstzgruppen, a forest near Riga. There, she was forced to dig her own grave before she was shot. Soon after Inge’s grandmother left, Inge and her parents were forced out of their home. They were sent to Goeppingen. Inge’s parents went straight to work at a women’s undergarment factory, earning very little money. When the war was in full gear in 1941, many people died in Goeppigen. Inge was the only child to survive.

On August 22, 1942, Inge and her parents were deported to Terezin, a concentration camp. Inge was the youngest of twelve hundred people who were transported into Terezin. She was only seven years old.

Terezin was located in Czechoslovakia and built in 1780. It became a concentration camp on October 10, 1941. In Terezin, many walls surrounded Inge and other people in that concentration camp. The prisoners of Terezin were forbidden to have any communication from the outside of the walls. They were also forbidden to conceive babies, but there were still quite a few children born. Most of the babies, however, died, but a few survived the war in Terezin. Of the fifteen thousand children who were imprisoned in Terezin, about one hundred of them were survivors.

When Inge and her parents arrived at Terezin, they had to go through a baby-and-belongings check that was located in an underground cell. After that, they were sent to an army barrack containing exercise courtyards and gaping archways. There a woman named Mrs. Rinder, who asked whether there were any children in the transport, and many prisoners pointed toward Inge. Mrs. Rinder gave Inge a mattress to sleep on, but it was shared with Mrs. Rinder’s son. Mrs. Rinder helped give Inge and her family food because she got extra food for working in the Terezin kitchen. Mrs. Rinder became a family friend of Inge’s family, but in 1944 the Rinder family was deported and sent to gas chambers.

Men, women, and children were separated in Terezin, but Inge was very fortunate to be housed with her parents. Inge was forced to sleep on the floor on a straw-filled mattress. Inge and other children played games and sung songs. The children used what they could find to make games. However, the children did not usually run around because they had to save their shoes and their energy.

At Terezin, there were many epidemics due to overcrowding and lack of hygiene. There were also many menaces that were contributing to the deaths that were happening during the Holocaust. Inge, for example, contracted scarlet fever. She had to stay four months in a so-called hospital. Terezin kept the hospital patients isolated from the rest of the camp.

Inge was not expected to live because new complications arose every day. She had measles, mumps, and a double middle ear infection following scarlet fever. Inge was also infected with worms, she lost her voice, and her body was covered with boils. While in the hospital, Inge met Ada, a nine-year old girl. Ada taught Inge a song to keep her spirits up Ada helped to comfort Inge when she was in the hospital. Ada used to tell Inge to just hold on a little longer. Unfortunately, Ada could not hold on. Inge’s friend Ada passed away when she was only nine years of age.

Inge was released from the hospital just before her eighth birthday. When Inge got out of the hospital, she was infected with lice but she had survived the scarlet fever.

For one week, Terezin went through a “beautification” program. Terezin officials then, for one week, did this so the International Red Cross would not catch them. The International Red Cross wanted to see if the prisoners were really put into a muddy field and beaten. The Nazis warned all blind, crippled, and sick people to stay out of sight. This was while the Red Cross was inspecting. All of the soldiers acted nice to the prisoners on the day that The International Red Cross came through. When The International Red Cross left, they left with an impression that Terezin was a model place for Jews to live in.

Meanwhile, Inge and her parents lived day and night in fear of being sent to the East and killed. When people were sent to the East, they were put into gas chambers. However, one day a red circle was drawn around Inge and her parents’ names meaning their lives had been spared. In 1945 Hitler’s Third Reich was collapsing and the German armies were facing defeat. During the last days of World War II, orders were given to build a gas chamber in Terezin. The plan was to kill the remaining prisoners by poison gas or by drowning them in a specially prepared area. Not one Jew in Europe was to stay alive. It was only the rush of events that spared Inge and her parents’ lives. At the beginning of May, the guards living outside the barricades ran away. They made some last efforts to slaughter Inge, her parents, and other remaining prisoners. The guards left by shooting wildly and throwing hand grenades into the camp. Fortunately, Inge and her family were not harmed. May 8, 1945, the Soviet army liberated Inge and her family. Inge and her parents had spent three years in Terezin.

The first thing Inge and her family did, once they were free, was rip off the yellow stars from their clothes. They felt joy, pain, and relief. After liberation, the barricades were left up for a while because a sever typhus epidemic was spreading quickly through the camp. Having survived the war, many prisoners died of disease even after liberation. In early July 1945, a bus appeared from Stuttgart, Germany, to pick up a small group of survivors. Of the original transport of about twelve hundred people, there were thirteen survivors. Three of them were Inge’s family.

Inge’s family then set off from the camp and soon found that they were passing through badly bombed German cities. Wherever they stopped, curious Germans gathered. One girl gave Inge a doll so she could remember her. They stopped at the displaced persons’ camp in Stuttgart and they received their first good meal. They stayed only one week in the temporary facility. Then they went home to Kippenheim.

The new owners of Inge’s grandmother’s house prepared a room for Inge and her family. The owners of Inge’s grandmother’s house were Christians. The Christian family tried to comfort Inge and her parents while they stayed there. Soon, the Auerbachers found a more permanent living residence in the town of Goeppingen. Their life slowly returned to normal again.

In May of 1946, Inge’s family immigrated to America. They then began their life in America. Today, Inge is still living, as is her story of the Holocaust. As I was touched with the tragedy of Inge’s childhood, I will always try to cherish my own childhood.