Yisrael Lisitzin

Testimony of Yisrael Lisitzin, born in Daugavpils, Latvia in 1927, regarding escape to territories of eastern USSR in June 1941 Childhood in a traditional family; father a cattle merchant and mother owner of an alcoholic drinks shop; studies in a Jewish school; good relationship with the non-Jewish population; Soviet occupation in 1940; outbreak of war between Germany and USSR in 1941; father's decision to escape immediately; family escape along with other Jews towards eastern USSR; receipt of passing permit; evacuation to the area of Ural; flat obtained from the kolkhoz; work as assistant blacksmith; mother's illness and death in 1942; life without hunger or shortages; recruitment to Red Army in 1943; joining Latvian Division 308 as mobile cannon operator; advance/approach towards Latvia; combat and leg injury; hospitalization; discharge from army; return to family in the kolkhoz; return with the family to the family home; receipt of another house after the destruction/demolition of their house; life after the war; aliya in 1958.