The Horror Caravan of 1940

A massive rounding up of Jews from the streets of Lodz.

Volksdeutsche

An organization of people who declared their German ancestry, though it is faint or all but nonexistent. Mrs. Gruber and Harry were among those who joined.

Lodz, Poland

Where Riva and her family lived prior to the German program against the Jews.

The Lodz Ghetto

Where Riva and her family and many other Jewish families lived in hiding from the Nazis.

Vigantol

A kind of vitamin that was smuggled into the ghetto and that Riva's brothers managed to get for her.

Child Welfare Department

The organization that tried to split up Riva and her family but that eventually petitioned for Riva to be named legal adoptive parent of her three younger brothers.

The Skif

A children's socialist movement, it operated underground and provided information, study opportunities and planning.

The Bund

The adult...