Assemblymember Brian Nestande
64th District

Rancho Mirage
Student: Julia DiBernardo

Before her 21st birthday, Katherine Gruen and her family were taken from their home to work in a brick factory. From there they were taken on trains to Auschwitz, where her clothing was taken and her head shaved. They were ordered to live in a packed dormitory and every morning German soldiers would wake them up and make them stand in lines as they picked who was next to go to the gas chambers. After a few months, she was transferred to work in a factory, from which she was liberated. She eventually married in Prague and came to America.