Testimony of Iosif Drachuk, born in Zhitomir, Ukraine, 1925, regarding his experiences in Karaganda, in detention in Petropavlovsk and as part of a punishment battalion of political inmates at the Belorussian front, in Kurland and Germany

Testimony of Iosif Drachuk, born in Zhitomir, Ukraine, 1925, regarding his experiences in Karaganda, in detention in Petropavlovsk and as part of a punishment battalion of political inmates at the Belorussian front, in Kurland and Germany The October Revolution; Jewish life in Zhitomir. Outbreak of World War II; outbreak of the war between the Soviet Union and Germany; German Army approach to the vicinity; attitude towards evacuation of the Jews; evacuation towards the east with his mother; labor in a coal mine in Karaganda; escape from his work place in order to help his sick mother; capture by the NKVD; sentenced to eight years detention; transfer to a prison in Petropavlovsk; drafted to a special punishment battalion that was part of the 54th infantry division; transfer to the front with additional political prisoners; combat at the Belorussian front; combat in Kurland; combat in Germany; discharge from the army, 1947. Return to Zhitomir; displays of antisemitism during the "Doctors' Trials", 1953; antisemitism after the Six Day War; aliya to Israel, 1974.