Testimony of Reuven Zoldan, born in Kusnica, Czechoslovakia, 1919, regarding his experiences in the Hungarian labor battalions

Testimony of Reuven Zoldan, born in Kusnica, Czechoslovakia, 1919, regarding his experiences in the Hungarian labor battalions Religious home; his father was an appraiser of forests and active in the community. Hungarian occupation, 02 November 1938; deterioration of the situation for the Jews, 1941; draft to forced labor and transfer to Romania to labor building railroad tracks and bridges; transfer to Budapest; labor constructing an airfield; transfer to Kosice and labor in ammunition storerooms; transfer to Nadvorna, February 1944; labor filling fuel tanks; approach of the Red Army front and return to Hungary, April 1944; life in Chust; German occupation, spring 1944; deportation of local Jews in the direction of the East; wanderings with the labor battalions in the service of the Hungarian Army; approach of the Red Army and retreat with a group of friends in Uzhorod; capture by the Red Army at Mukacevo; release for labor after he identifies himself as a Jew. Return to Kusnica; reunion with four of his siblings; help from the JDC; marriage; move to Liberec; aliya preparations by a group at Aschach-an-der-Donau, with Aliya Bet; move to Marseille; sets sail on the "Af-Al-Pi-Chen" ship, whose name is later changed to "Yagur"; aliya attempt to Eretz Israel; detention in Cyprus; aliya to Eretz Israel, December 1946.