Testimony of Yitzhak Zakai, born in Berlin, Germany, 1921, regarding his experiences in the French Foreign Legion and escape from France to Spain

Testimony of Yitzhak Zakai, born in Berlin, Germany, 1921, regarding his experiences in the French Foreign Legion and escape from France to Spain Move to Paris with his parents before the war. Enlists in the French Foreign Legion, 30 December 1939, service in North Africa until his release, 21 November 1940; return to France and registration for the foreign workers brigade, where he starts to learn Hebrew and keep Shabbat and commandments; labor; harsh conditions; escape from camp, 05 February 1942; changes his name and uses a false identity as Jan Wechsler, a POW who escaped from the Germans; meets his parents; joins a group organized to escape via the Pyrenees; start of the escape in Toulouse, May 1944; travel by train to Bussens, by bus to St. Girons and then to Lacave; meets two smugglers; walk with 64 people including older people, to Mont Vallier on the French side of the Pyrenees; exhausting travel; harsh conditions during the seven days of travel to the Spanish side in Moutgarri; kind treatment by the Spanish police. Convalescence; travel to Barcelona; receives certificates to Eretz Israel from the British consul; sets sail to Eretz Israel on a Portuguese ship; life on Kibbutz Be'erot Yitzhak.