Yaakov Morgenshtern

Testimony of Yaakov Morgenstern, born in Szczebrzeszyn, Poland, 1927, regarding his experiences in Szczebrzeszyn, the Szczebrzeszyn Ghetto, Klemensow camp, in hiding and in forests in the area His childhood in a religious family; attends a Polish elementary school, "heder" and yeshiva; antisemitism before the war. German occupation; acts of violence and humiliation; German retreat and Red Army occupation for one month following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact; many escape to the Soviet Union with the encouragement of the authorities; return of the German Army; return of refugees from the Soviet Union following hardships making a livelihood and finding housing; acts of violence; yellow badge; establishment of the Judenrat and the Jewish police; incidents of a machine gun being positioned next to a food distribution line and shooting into the crowd; arrival of Jewish refugees from Silesia and help from the community; deportation of his father to labor in Belzec camp and his release in exchange for a bribe; roll-calls to count the Jews; forced "contribution" taxes; deportation to labor in Klemensow camp; labor carrying sacks of malt, until 1942; offer to his father to become a Judenrat member and his refusal; "Aktions" from September 1942; his family is in hiding; discovery of the hiding place and witness' escape to the forest; hidden by a farmer in Zrebce; deportation of Polish citizens from Zrebce and settlement of Germans in place of them; capture of the witness; escape to a nearby village and life in hiding; wanderings in a forest; liberation. Return to Szczebrzeszyn; move to Lodz; membership in Hashomer Hatzair; illegally crosses the border with help from the Jewish Brigade; move to France; aliya attempt; detention in Cyprus; aliya to Eretz Israel, 1947.