Toby’s Life: A Timeline

1926

Toby is born in Czernica

Self-portrait
Self-portrait

 

Our Farm
Our Farm

1931

Toby starts school

Going to School
Going to School

September 1939

World War II breaks out

The Sounds Of War
The Sounds Of War

1939-1941

Czernica under Russian control, Toby attends Soviet school
Komsomolki

Toby attends Soviet school Komsomolki
Toby attends Soviet school Komsomolki

Summer 1941

Nazis take over Czernica.


Fall 1942

Nazis order Czernica Jews to evacuate to Brody, where they establish a ghetto

Going To The Ghetto
Going To The Ghetto

March 1943

Toby and her sister Surcie escape from the ghetto

Climbing Out Of The Cellar
Climbing Out Of The Cellar

1943-1944

Toby hides alone in the woods and barns near Czernica for a year

Hiding In The Attic
Hiding In The Attic

May 1943

Liquidation of the Brody Ghetto, Toby’s mother escapes


March 1944

Russian soldiers liberate Czernica, only Toby and her mother survive, losing her father, two sisters, and brother

Leaving Czernica
Leaving Czernica

1949

Toby marries Max Fluek, after four years in DP camp in Germany

The Wedding
The Wedding

1950

Daughter Lillian is born in The Bronx, New York, after Toby and Max come to America

My Family
My Family

1961

Toby starts to paint images of her life in Czernica, encouraged by her mother to paint the farm

Toby continues to paint images from her childhood and exhibiting her work


1981

Release of film Image Before My Eyes: A History of Jewish Life in Poland before the Holocaust (Joshua Waletzky, director; Jerome Badanes, author), with Toby Fluek interviewed in the first vignette, representing Jewish village life


1990

Toby’s first book of paintings, drawings, and text appears, Memories of My Life in a Polish Village 1930-1949, New York: Alfred A. Knopf

"Memories of My Life in a Polish Village 1930-1949" book cover
“Memories of My Life in a Polish Village 1930-1949” book cover

1992

Toby’s second book is published, Passover As I Remember It, New York: Alfred A. Knopf

"Passover As I Remember It" book cover
“Passover As I Remember It” book cover

2008

Premier of film Toby’s Sunshine: The Life and Art of Holocaust Survivor Toby Knobel Fluek (Rakhmiel Peltz, producer and project director, Drexel University, 51 minutes).


2011

Death of Toby Fluek