Testimony of Martin Finkelstein, born in Stopnica, Poland in 1920, regarding his experiences in the Sosnowiec Ghetto and in camps in Czechoslovakia and Germany, and regarding the fate of his family members during the Holocaust

Testimony of Martin Finkelstein, born in Stopnica, Poland in 1920, regarding his experiences in the Sosnowiec Ghetto and in camps in Czechoslovakia and Germany, and regarding the fate of his family members during the Holocaust His family members before the war: His parents were David Finkelstein and Sara Ita (Kasyrer) Finkelstein; they perished in Auschwitz camp; Ester and Feyga Gitel; they perished in Auschwitz camp; His sisters Henya, Haya and Minya were in a labor camp in Czechoslovakia, and survived; His family's life in Stopnica before the war; his family's experiences; activities in a Zionist youth movement (Hamizrachi movement); studies; antisemitism in Poland before the war; Jewish holidays and Shabbat; move to Sosnowiec after the completion of his studies; life and work in Sosnowiec; aliya training at the youth movement "kibbutz"; draft into the Polish Army; participation in battles against the Germans at the start of the war; he is taken captive and is transferred to Germany by train; escape, en route; escape back to Sosnowiec; life in Sosnowiec with his family; German occupation; deportation to the Sosnowiec Ghetto with the Jews; wearing a yellow badge; Sosnowiec Ghetto life (forced labor, housing, hunger, smuggling of food into the ghetto, and so forth); deportation of Henya to a women's camp in Czechoslovakia (she survived); activities by the Jewish Police in the Sosnowiec Ghetto; deportation to the Sakrau transit camp; transfer to Trzynietz camp; Trzynietz camp life during 05-10/1943; Trzynietz camp life and the living conditions (housing, food, clothing, sanitation conditions, and so forth); daily routine in the camp; punishments; deportation of sick inmates to Auschwitz; his family members send him valuables while he is in the camp; transfer to Schmiedeberg camp in 10/1943; labor in the camp in the manufacture of bombs (explosives); relations with friends from Sosnowiec (discussions, support, mutual help); Schmiedeberg camp life and the living conditions; daily life; transfer to Klettendorf camp in May 1944; Klettendorf camp life (labor, housing, food, punishments, and so forth); transfer to Waldenburg camp in September 1944; labor in the camp, in a weapons factory; Waldenburg camp life and the living conditions; deportation of sick inmates to their extermination; food [?]; liberation, May 1945; wanderings; search for his sisters, who were in a labor camp in Czechoslovakia (Haya, Henya and Minya) by means of a Jewish office affiliated with the Red Army; reunion with his sisters; his sisters' situation after the liberation; life in Poland after the war; antisemitism after the war; move to Munich in 1947; life in Munich; work for a Jewish newspaper; emigration to the United States in summer 1950; marriage, and his family's life in Philadelphia; thoughts about the Holocaust, as a survivor (his emotional situation, faith, discussions with others, and so forth).