Irene arrived to American on Christmas Eve, 1945. The Liberty ship Cleveland Forbes that took her from Algeria couldn't enter the Baltimore Harbor due to ice, so she was ferried ashore by lifeboat. She lived with relatives in New York City, and was reunited with her Mutti and brother Werner in mid 1946 after they were healthy enough to travel to the States from Europe.
Irene graduates from Queens College in New York City in 1953.
Irene's Mutti, Gertrude Hasenberg, in New York City, circa 1950s.
Irene at Duke University, where she was one of the first women to graduate with a Ph.D. in Economics.
Irene and her brother Werner visiting the site of Camp Bergen-Belsen in 1991.
Irene at her Pappi's grave in Laupheim, Germany in 2014. Lacking a Jewish cemetery, the German town of Biberach buried Pappi in a Christian one after his body were left on the train platform. Soon after the war, a group of Bergen-Belsen survivors reinterred Pappi in the Jewish cemetery in Laupheim.
Irene as a newlywed with her husband Charlie Butter.
Irene and Charlie in 2011; both are University of Michigan professors emeritus.
Irene in 2013 with her childhood blanket, the same one she had through Westerbork, Bergen-Belsen, and Camp Jeanne d'Arc in Algeria.
Irene’s daughter Ella
Irene’s son Noah
Irene with her grandchildren Amelie, Jonah, and Shareen
Irene’s great grandson Adam
Irene’s great granddaughter Maya