Adolf Hitler is a charismatic, Austrian-born demagogue, who rose to power in Germany during the 1920’s and 1930’s at a time of social, political and economic upheaval.  Failing to fake power by force in 1923, he eventually won power by democratic means.  Once in power, he eliminated all opposition and launched an ambitious program of world domination and elimination of Jews, paralleling ideas he advanced in his book, Mein Kampf.  His “1,000 Year Reich” barely lasted 12 years and he died a broken and defeated man. 

Anne Frank is one of the most recognized pupils from the Holocaust.  She was 13 years old when she received her diary.  She wrote in it just about everyday for two years.  Anne died in March of 1945.  Her father, Otto Frank returned to the secret annex.  He found Anne’s diary and now it is on of the most useful items in American History.

Larry Rosenbach was about 16 yrs old, he had been sent to a few different concentration camps.  He set out to look for his brother, they had been separated the because of the death march.  The search was difficult, but the two of them were re-united.  Larry and his brother have both joined the army.  His brother stayed in Frankfurt while he lived life with no direction. 

Judith Bihaly was just a small child when she began her postwar search for a new home and a new life.  She lived with her Jewish neighbors for a little while, but then joined a group of orphans.  After a few months, she was re-united with her mother and brother.

Akiva Kohane had been taken, along with other former prisoners, by American soldiers to the Austrian city of Wels, where an enormous armory had been converted into a temporary refugee camp.  Akiva had traveled to many different places and camps.  A woman had told Akiva she could find his uncle in American.  However, before he was able to give his American relatives his address-this was a problem since the movements of the Palestine-bound refugees were veiled in well-guarded secrecy- he was already at sea, braving the British blockade on his way to Palestine.

Civia Basch arrives in New York City in 1949 at the age of twenty-one.  As promised, members of her family, though strangers to her welcomed her enthusiastically.  She was the first European refugee they had met, and they were determined to show their loves to this lonely woman.  She had a numerous amount of jobs.  Civia got married, quit her job for her children, but she continued, starting her own Jewish radio program. 

Tonia Blair was unable to secure a visa to the United States quickly. She decided to join her friend who was traveling to South America. Tonia spent more than two years in Bolivia and Brazil, before she was finally given a U.S visa in 1949.

Ann Shore left Europe in October 1948 and traveled to Canada with her mother and sister. They remained there until 1954, when they obtained visas to the United States. Ann took advantage of her time in Canada to study, work, and enjoy a full social life, but New York became her true home.