April 29, 1924
Manfred Steinfeld, one of three children is born to Abraham (Adolph) Steinfeld and Paula Katten in Josbach, Germany located one hundred kilometers north of Frankfurt.
January 30, 1933
Hitler becomes Chancellor.
September 15, 1935
The Nuremberg Laws passed depriving Jews of German citizenship rights and led to the exclusion of all remaining Jewish civil servants, artists, university teachers, judges and other public servants
July 1938
Steinfeld's mother registers him with the Hebrew Immigration Aid Society (HIAS) and he departs Germany for the US with twelve other children. His brother Herbert is soon after sent to Palestine.
September 1938
Steinfeld arrives in the Hyde Park section of Chicago
November 9, 1938
Kristallnacht - "Night of the broken glass"
April 1939
Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.
May 1939
Steinfeld graduates primary school on Chicago's south side.
October 1941
Steinfeld's mother and older sister Irma deported in October 1941 to the Ghetto in Riga, Latvia
December 7, 1941
Japan bombs Pearl Harbor. US declares war on Japan, and Germany declares war on the US.
May 1942
Steinfeld graduates from Hyde Park High School.
June 1942
Allied victory at Midway marks a turning point in the Pacific War.
February 1943
German troops surrender at Stalingrad marking the first major defeat of Hitler's army.
March 1943
Steinfeld enters United States Army, is sent to Camp Roberts, California for basic infantry training and then later the Army Specialized Training Program at the City College of New York.
September 1943
Italy surrenders to the Allies leading to a German invasion of northern Italy.
January 1944
Steinfeld attends Military Intelligence school at Camp Richie, MD where he completes a first course in interrogation of prisoners of war (IPW) and goes on to become an Order of Battle Specialist. He becomes an expert on the German army, with extensive knowledge about its commanding officers.
January 1944
Steinfeld goes to London to military intelligence headquarters for the U.S. Army.
June 1944
Steinfeld volunteers for the paratroopers, 82nd Airborne Division and soon after graduates from jump school as a qualified parachutist.
June 6, 1944
D-Day: Allies land 6,500 vessels and over 130,000 forces on five Normandy beaches
August 1944
Steinfeld is assigned to the G-2 section, HQ Battalion of the 82nd Airborne, as part of the Order of Battle team, number 16, responsible for all of the intelligence for Operation Market Garden campaign strategies.
September 17, 1944
Operation Market Garden. Three airborne divisions attempt to seize all of the bridges over the Rhine and Waal River; the 82nd jumps at Nijmegan, the 101st at Einhoven, and the 1st British Airborne at Arnhem. Steinfeld sustains minor wounds in a glider crash and is awarded the Purple Heart.
October 1944
After the dissolution of the ghetto in Riga, Latvia, Steinfeld's mother and sister are sent to Stutthof Concentration camp near Danzig.
November 1944
82nd Airborne Division is relieved from front line duty until the start of the the Battle of the Bulge on December 18.
December 18, 1944
Ardennes offensive (Battle of Bulge) Steinfeld interrogates a German soldier from his hometown.
December 30, 1944
Steinfeld's mother dies at the Stutthof concentration camp.
January 15, 1945
His sister Irma dies at the Stutthof concentration camp.
January 27, 1945
Soviet troops liberate the concentration camp at Auschwitz.
March 1945
Steinfeld's division is assigned to the newly formed, U.S. 9th Army, then holding the West Bank of the Rhine in the vicinity of Cologne until the middle of April when the 82nd Airborne establishes the last bridgehead along the Elbe River.
May 2, 1945
Steinfeld is on the reconnaissance patrol that contacts the Russians. At the same time he is involved in translating the unconditional surrender document.
May 7, 1945
Germany surrenders to the Allies and war ends in Europe.
June 1945
Steinfeld becomes the US Military Governor of a town called Boizenberg an der Elbe, located South East of Hamburg. He receives permission to go to his hometown, Josbach where he learns of the deportation of his mother and sister.
June 26, 1945
The United Nations Charter is signed in San Francisco.
July 1945
The 82nd Airborne is selected to be the occupational force in Berlin until October.
August 6, 1945
The US drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. Three days later a second bomb is dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
August 14, 1945
Japan surrenders to the Allies.
October 29, 1945
Stienfeld is discharged from Camp McCoy in the United States.
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