Asher Perlshtein

Testimony of Asher Perlstein, born in Semjen, 1928, regarding his experiences in the Satoralyaulyhely Ghetto, Auschwitz, death march and camps in Germany Life before the war in Semjen, in Zemplen County, Hungary; business of his father; relations with local pupils; imposition of strict restrictions on Jews by the government and economic hardship, 1938; arrival of escaping Polish Jewish officers from Poland from 1940; unclear rumors regarding the murder of the Jews in Poland. Invasion of the Germans into Hungary, 19 March 1944; yellow badge; deportation of the family and the village Jews to the Satoralyaulyhely Ghetto; life in the ghetto; deportation to Aushwitz-Birkenau; his mother and two brothers being selected and murdered in the gas chamber; the survivor and his father were sent to Birkenau; being tattooed with the number A-8475; work in the camp; transfer to Buna-Monowitz and meeting frequently with his father; his father was selected and murdered on Yom Kippur, 1944; work in a factory; hanging parades on Sundays; surgery on his palm by Dr Langel; bombing of the camp by the British, 20 August 1944; evacuation of the camp with the approach of the Red Army, 18 January 1945; on a death march and journey in open train cars; death of many due to hunger and cold; arrival at Buchenwald concentration camp; work clearing rubble in Weimar; transfer to Hannover to an aircraft factory; deportation to Theresienstadt, April 1945; liberation by the Red Army. Return to Semjen and meeting his brother and sister who survived; training in Budapest; Bericha route from Yugoslavia; onboard the "Haganah" to Eretz Israel, June 1946.