We Are One
The Miraculous Story of Inge Auerbacher, Child Survivor of the Holocaust, and her Doll
A BOOK by ME - True Stories Written by Kids for Kids
Written and Illustrated by Danielle Lyle
I had the privilege of meeting Holocaust survivor Inge Auerbacher when she reached out to me about the A BOOK by ME project. Living in NYC, she asked if I knew a local student from her area who could write and illustrate her story. As I looked out my window at the cornfields and grazing cows, I couldn’t help but smile.
At the time, I was working with high school exchange students and had a volunteer experience in Washington D.C., where we collaborated with students from developing countries. I soon connected with a new colleague, Rhonda Lyle, who had a daughter Danielle she thought might be interested in participating in my project. Before I knew it, the mother and daughter were on a train to NYC, and afterward Danielle beautifully wrote and illustrated Inge’s remarkable story.
The National Holocaust Museum in D.C. learned about this intergenerational friendship, and the two “friends” even appeared in a commercial together for the museum. The power of these intergenerational friendships never ceases to amaze me.
Deb Bowen, Executive Director Understanding Works
Inge & Danielle
“I have never been a history buff but I couldn’t wait to read Inge’s first book “I Am A Star.” It touched my heart to know that a child at the age of seven was able to survive such a horrible time in history. I felt I should try to tell the story of her life so other kids would understand who she is and understand that we are one in humanity. By loving our fellow man, we can be stronger together.” — Author Danielle Lyle
Inge Auerbacher – Jewish Holocaust Survivor
Inge Auerbacher (ING-uh OW-er-bock-er) was born December 31, 1934 in Kippenheim, a village of two thousand people in southwestern Germany. Sixty Jewish families, including Inge’s, had lived there for over two hundred years. Inge’s father had served his country as a German soldier during World War I (1914-1918). He was badly wounded and received the Iron Cross for his bravery. But no amount of local roots or patriotic service could make Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party respect the Jews as worthwhile people. The National Socialist German Workers’ Party, called Nazis (NOT-sees), hated the Jewish people and blamed them for all of Germany’s troubles. Hitler believed that the Jews were inferior to the Aryan master race, the blue-eyed and blond-haired Germanic people the Nazis considered superior to all others. Not long after Inge’s birth, the Nazi Party stripped all Jews of their German citizenship.
Inge holding Marlene with her parents and grandparents
Inge’s grandparents lived a few hundred miles away but they visited often. For Inge’s second birthday, her grandparents gave her a beautiful blond-haired, blue-eyed doll. Inge slept with the doll and took her everywhere. One day, Inge leafed through the pages of her mother’s album of movie stars and pointed to a striking woman with blue eyes and blond hair. When she asked who the lady was, her mother answered, “That is Marlene Dietrich.” Inge immediately said, “I will name my doll Marlene.” Many years later as an adult, she learned that the factory’s name for this style of doll was “Inge.” The doll had been designed for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin (often called the “Hitler Olympics”). The doll wore a special hairstyle called the “Olympic Roll.”
Inge and Marlene
The peace of the Jewish community was shattered by Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), a massive riot directed against the Jews in Germany and Austria on November 9th and 10th, 1938. The riot reached Kippenheim on November 10th, shortly before Inge’s fourth birthday. A wild mob ran through the town and broke windows in the Jewish homes and stores. They demolished the inside of the synagogue (the Jewish house of worship) and tore apart the holy scrolls, called Torahs in Hebrew. Inge, her mother, and her grandmother saw the mayhem from their living room, surrounded by broken glass. Inge was nearly hit by a brick thrown through the broken window. Her mother pulled her away and ran for shelter in a backyard shed.
Her grandfather went in the morning to the synagogue to pray and was arrested. The police came to their house and also arrested her father. They both were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. They were two among many—30,000 Jewish males over the age of sixteen living in Germany and Austria were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Luckily, her grandfather and father were released after a few weeks. They spoke of the horrible treatment they had received at Dachau. It was clear to her father that his patriotism and war medal (the Iron Cross) would not protect his family.
The Auerbachers sold their home and moved in with Inge’s grandparents in Jebenhausen (pronounced Yay-ben-how-zen), hoping they would find safety in another country soon. They were the only Jewish family in their village of a thousand people. The Nazis decreed that Jewish children would no longer be allowed to go to school with Christian children. There was only one Jewish school in the state, so Inge travelled alone by train for an hour every day. She was only six years old. By late 1941, all Jews age six and up were forced to wear the yellow Star of David sewn on their clothing. The star had the word Jude (Jew) on it, which marked them as outcasts.
Six months later, school abruptly stopped, and so the whole family received orders for deportation. There was no way out for Inge and her parents. In August 1942, they were sent to a concentration camp. At age seven, Inge was the youngest person in a transport of about twelve hundred people. A guard ripped a Dutch-boy pin off the coat she was wearing and yelled, “You won’t need this where you are going!” He tore away her doll to search inside the hollow body for hidden valuables. Tears ran down Inge’s cheeks as she watched, helpless. Satisfied that the doll was empty, the guard handed back her beloved Marlene.
The prisoners were herded into a crowded passenger train, not knowing where they were going. During the two-day trip, they were given little food and were not allowed to leave the train. When the train stopped, they were ordered to leave their belongings near the railroad tracks. Inge had Marlene in her arms, while the SS (storm troopers) whipped them to drive them to the run-down military town the Nazis used as a transit camp. The place consisted of high walls and barracks made of bricks, barbed wire, and wooden fences. They were sent to the attic of a large barrack to sleep on the concrete floor with one blanket as a cushion.
Inge and most of the children contracted scarlet fever there and were placed in a so-called hospital. The sick people were not looked after the way we expect in a real hospital, because the Nazis were not interested in helping people get well. Two children had to sleep in every bed. Inge was there for four months, separated from her parents and Marlene. She finally was allowed to join her parents, and they lived together in very crowded rooms.
Conditions at Terezin were harsh. Mice, rats, fleas, bed bugs, and lice were the inmates’ constant companions. Water was pumped from polluted wells. Showers in the community bath house were rare and short. Communal toilets were without any privacy. Meals consisted of a dark soup, a small portion of turnips, and a potato, with a small bread ration once a week. The people had to stand in long lines to get the meager food rations ladled into metal dishes. The children made games of searching the garbage dump for potato peelings, rotten turnips, and boiled horse bones to salvage the leftover gristle. In all of this filth and hunger, Inge felt lucky that she had Marlene for company, who slept in a broken cardboard box near her head.
The war ended in Europe in May of 1945. Inge and her parents were finally able to immigrate to America in May of 1946 because President Harry S. Truman had opened the doors to the Jewish refugees. Eleven-year old Inge was clutching the faithful Marlene when the family arrived in New York City.
Inge entered high school in Brooklyn at age 15. She had lost eight years of school, but she completed her studies in three years by going to summer school. In 1954, she entered Queens College in New York and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1958. Her career in medical research and clinical work spanned 38 years.
Today, she is the author of six books translated into many languages, published poet, songwriter, and lecturer all over the U.S.A. and other countries. Although she never married, she says, “All the children of the world are my children!” As for Marlene, she now is a symbol to the world of steadfast love and endurance—Inge donated Marlene to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. as a loving gift for all mankind.
We Are One: The Miraculous Story of Inge Auerbacher, Child Survivor of the Holocaust, and her Doll
A BOOK by ME, a book series developed by Deb Bowen, empowers students to preserve history by telling the story of unsung heroes in our communities. For the young participants, it’s a guided cross-curricular project that gathers stories of people who do amazing things but have received little or no recognition. Students learn how to publish a picture book that is a primary source document with photographs and a biography.
Since 2003, Deb Bowen has been arranging meetings between students and individuals from the WWII generation. This intergenerational storytelling results in unique storybooks written and illustrated by kids for kids in the A BOOK by ME series. More about Deb Bowen >
