Testimony of Mordekhai Weissman, born in Skalat, Poland, 1924, regarding his experiences in Skalat, a ghetto, forced labor in the area and in hiding in surrounding forests

Testimony of Mordekhai Weissman, born in Skalat, Poland, 1924, regarding his experiences in Skalat, a ghetto, forced labor in the area and in hiding in surrounding forests Childhood in an ultra-Orthodox family; attends "heder" and a Polish school; community life. Soviet rule, 1939-1941; arrest of wealthy Jews and their exile to Siberia; ban of Zionist activities and learning in the "heder"; German occupation, 05 July 1941; murder of hundreds of Jews; establishment of a ghetto and activation of the Judenrat; deportations to extermination in Belzec; "Aktions" and the murder of Jews in killing pits; witness' forced labor in Borki, Wielkie, Nowosiolka and Kamionki; liquidation of the ghetto, 09 July 1943; capture of the witness' mother and part of his family and their murder in the killing pits; the witness hides his father and two sisters in Skalat; entry of Kovpak's partisan unit into Skalat; murder of his father and others in front of the witness; escape with his sisters to a forest and meeting with additional refugees; life in the forests until liberation by the Red Army; help from local residents in obtaining food; liberation. Return to Skalat, 23 April 1944; reunion with a brother; move to Poland with his sisters; joins Bnei Akiva training; move with Bericha to Italy, 1946; aliya attempt: detention in Cyprus, 1946; aliya to Eretz Israel, 1947.