Testimony of Dov Yisaschar Goldstein, born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1929, regarding his experiences in Bratislava, Auschwitz, Niederoerschel and Buchenwald, and his activities in the "Working Group"

Testimony of Dov Yisaschar Goldstein, born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1929, regarding his experiences in Bratislava, Auschwitz, Niederoerschel and Buchenwald, and his activities in the "Working Group" Family; atmosphere of fear after the German occupation of Vienna, 1938. German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia, 1938-1940; his sister and her family obtain passports in Vienna and make aliya to Eretz Israel; decrees against Slovakian Jews; escape of Jews to the outlying areas and to Hungary; details about Rabbi Ungar's yeshiva, the "Nitra Vatican", 1940; establishment of the "Working Group" by Rabbi Weissmandel, Gisi Fleischmann and Rabbi Frieder; capture of young people and their deportation to Majdanek and detention in Sered, Pesach 1942; witness types the letters sent by Rabbi Weissmandel to Switzerland; rescue of the witness' family from deportation; success by the "Working Group" in the delay of deportations of Jews; help by his father to smuggle Polish and Slovakian Jews into Hungary, 1942-1943; his father continues to observe the religious commandments including prayers, baking matzot and maintenance of an eruv; details about Rabbi Teichtel; "Aktion" in the Nitra Yeshiva, September 1944; circumcision ceremony of his brother Eliezer; deportation of his mother, sister and baby brother to Auschwitz in an "Aktion" after Yom Kippur, 5705 (1944); rescue in a bunker along with his father; informed on by a non-Jewish woman and their capture; deportation to Sered camp; transfer to Auschwitz with Gisi Fleischmann; separation from his father; transfer to Niederoerschel; labor for Junkers; preservation of humanity and Judaism; transfer to Buchenwald, February 1945; liberation by the US Army. Joins Bnei Akiva; wanderings and detention; sets sail and aliya attempt on the "Arba Heruyoth" ship; detention in Cyprus, 1946; aliya to Eretz Israel, 1947; religious faith after the Holocaust.