Eli Gat Gutsztadt

Testimony of Eli (Gutsztadt) Gat, born in Radom, 1932, regarding his experiences in the Radom Ghetto, in hiding and living under a false identity Upper middle class, assimilated family. Escape at outbreak of war; moves with father to Brest in Russian zone; mother and younger brother remain under German occupation (mother rents rooms to German clerks); return of witness with father to Radom for fear of exile to Siberia; living with grandfather until creation of the ghetto, April 1941; outbreak of war with Soviet Union; deportation of approximately 10,000 Jews in first "Aktion"; father's friend risks life by helping family obtain forged documents for the children; leaving ghetto and going into hiding; witness returns to parents in ghetto after second "Aktion" and works sorting rags; hiding with Poles; fear of Polish population; return to ghetto; concentration of Jews in cemetery of town of Szydlowiec, March 1943; execution of Jews by order of German officer Kapke; rescue; 500 Jews left in ghetto; work as courier between Germans and workshops; friend transfers him to Aryan section of Warsaw; hiding; Polish identity; the only family returning in its entirety to Radom, February 1945; murder of father by Polish rioters, 19 June 1945. Move to Austria; DP camp; aliya to Eretz Israel, 1946.