Testimony of Menachem Kolton, born in Lodz, Poland, 1928, regarding his experiences in the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Gusen I and other places

Testimony of Menachem Kolton, born in Lodz, Poland, 1928, regarding his experiences in the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz, Mauthausen, Gusen I and other places Life before the war. German occupation; deportation to the Lodz Ghetto, 1940; labor in a workshop and cleaning the sewers; his brother's activities in the Gordonia movement; deportation with his family to Auschwitz, 1944; murder of his mother and younger brother; disappearance of his father and older brother; transfer to Mauthausen; transfer on foot to Gusen I; camp life including labor digging tunnels for the German Messerschmidt factory; injured by a German soldier; hospitalization in an infirmary in Gusen II; rescue from death by a Kapo named Koenigsberg; transfer on foot to Gunskirchen; camp life; liberation by the US Army, May 1945. Move to a German camp adminstered by the US Army; meets Jewish Brigade soldiers; decision to make aliya to Eretz Israel; move to Florence; life in Florence including learning Hebrew and weapons training; aliya to Eretz Israel, late 1945; studies and work; enlists in the IDF; combat and wounded in Israel's War of Independence.