Inge Auerbacher facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Inge Auerbacher
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| Born | December 31, 1934 |
| Notable works | I am a Star |
Inge Auerbacher was born on December 31, 1934, in Kippenheim, Germany. She is a German-born American chemist and a brave Holocaust survivor. Inge has written many books sharing her experiences during the Second World War. Her stories help us understand what it was like to live through such a difficult time.
Contents
Early Life in Germany
Inge Auerbacher was the last Jewish child born in Kippenheim. This small village is in South-Western Germany, near the Black Forest and close to France and Switzerland. She was the only child of Berthold and Regina Auerbacher. Both her parents came from Jewish families who had lived in Germany for many generations.
Inge's father, Berthold, was a soldier in the German Army during World War I. He was badly wounded and even received the Iron Cross for his service. He worked as a textile merchant, and the family owned a large home in Kippenheim.
Surviving the Holocaust
The Holocaust was a terrible time when about six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Inge and her family faced many dangers during this period.
Kristallnacht: A Night of Fear
On November 10, 1938, something awful happened called Kristallnacht, or "Night of the Broken Glass." During this chaos, Inge's father and grandfather were arrested. They were sent to the Dachau concentration camp. Inge, her mother, and her grandmother managed to hide in a shed and stayed safe. A few weeks later, her father and grandfather returned home. Sadly, her grandfather died soon after, in May 1939.
Life in a Concentration Camp
When Inge was just seven years old, in 1942, she and her parents were sent away. They were taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. When they arrived, almost everything they had was taken from them. They were left with only the clothes they wore and Inge's doll, Marlene.
Life in the camp was extremely hard. People were often sick and very hungry. Food was so scarce that a potato was considered as valuable as a diamond. Inge was hungry, scared, and sick most of the time. Her parents tried their best to care for her, even in such terrible conditions. For her eighth birthday, they gave her a tiny potato cake with a bit of sugar. For her ninth birthday, she received an outfit for her doll, sewn from rags. And for her tenth birthday, her mother wrote her a special poem.
Freedom and New Beginnings
About 140,000 people were sent to the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Many were later sent to gas chambers in Auschwitz, and thousands died in Terezin from hunger and sickness. Out of 15,000 children held in Terezin, Inge and her parents were among the very few who survived.
The Red Army rescued Inge's family on May 8, 1945. After a short stay in Germany, the family moved to New York City in May 1946. Seven years later, Inge became a US citizen. She later graduated from Queens College and worked as a chemist for 38 years.
Sharing Her Story
Inge Auerbacher has dedicated much of her later life to sharing her experiences. She wants to make sure people remember the Holocaust and learn from history.
In 1986, Inge published her first book, I Am A Star. This book shares her childhood memories of the Holocaust. She has written six books in total, including three memoirs about her time in Terezin and her life after the war. A play called "The Star on My Heart," based on her story, premiered in Ohio in 2015.
Inge tells her life story in three main books: I am a Star - Child of the Holocaust, Beyond the Yellow Star to America, and Finding Dr. Schatz. In I am a Star, Inge explains how her life changed when the Nazis came to power. She describes how all Jews, including her, had to wear a yellow star on their clothes. She also talks about the terrible conditions in the Concentration Camps. They slept on wooden beds, and the food was awful. Breakfast was cold coffee and bread, lunch was cold soup (if there was any), and dinner was just bread and cold soup. Many people starved because there wasn't enough food.
In 2023, Inge worked with technology companies to create an interactive AI and VR (virtual reality) version of her life at Terezin. This project allows users to ask Inge questions, and her virtual self shows illustrations of her experiences. This amazing project was supported by groups like the World Jewish Congress and UNESCO.
Works
- Children of Terror
- Highway to New York
- Running Against the Wind
- Beyond the Yellow Star
- I Am a Star
- Ich bin ein Stern
- Finding Dr. Schatz
