Meir Maksimilian Bir

Testimony of Meir Maxmilian Bier, born in Cologne, 1930, regarding his experiences as a child living in hiding, Westerbork and Bergen-Belsen camps Family background in Cologne; move to Amsterdam; family divides its time between Amsterdam and Zandvoort. Move to Bilthoven, 1941; deterioration of situation for Jews; move to Amsterdam; ban on Jewish ritual slaughter of meat; fear of the unknown; maintaining cultural life with help of the Dutch underground; dispersion of his family to various places; hiding with his brother in a small room in Dinxperlo; life in hiding; searches by the Dutch police; deportation to a prison in Arnheim after being informed on; interrogations; threats; harsh living conditions; deportation in handcuffs with his brother to Westerbork; labor as a messenger boy; reading from a Torah scroll; transfer with his brother to Bergen-Belsen; harsh conditions; roll calls; death of his brother from starvation several days before the liberation; transfer by train to Troebitz; liberation by the Red Army and return to the Netherlands. Living with a Dutch family named Armelo; stay in various children's homes throughout the Netherlands; aliya to Eretz Israel using forged documents, 1948; studies in Mikveh Israel; coping with religious issues.