Testimony of Yitzkhak Tzigler, born in Charsznica, Poland in 1928, regarding his experiences in the Krakow Ghetto, in Plaszow, Mauthausen and Melk camps, and in other places

Testimony of Yitzkhak Tzigler, born in Charsznica, Poland in 1928, regarding his experiences in the Krakow Ghetto, in Plaszow, Mauthausen and Melk camps, and in other places Family background; life before the war; outbreak of the war, 1939; air-raids on the town and on the railroad tracks; his family escapes to Miechow; his father escapes across the border into the Soviet Union and returns to Miechow several days later; his family stays in Miechow for several days; return to Charsznica; they find that their house is partially destroyed; arrival of German soldiers into the town; bans and restrictions; curfew in the evenings; obligation to wear a white patch with a blue Star of David; imposition of a ban on the Jewish population regarding purchasing food in stores; hunger; deportation of Jews from towns surrounding Charsznica; deportation of his father to forced labor in a brick factory in Plaszow; deportation of his sister to forced labor at the airfield in Krakow; harsh economic situation at home; decision to escape from home; move to Krakow on foot with a Polish farmer who is a family friend; entry into the Krakow Ghetto; search for his father; arrival to Plaszow camp; he gives a bribery payment to the Polish work manager; Plaszow camp life; labor in a coal mine; labor in a carpentry workshop; residence with his father, in a barracks; labor by his father in horse stables; he steals lumber for heating from the carpentry workshop for the purpose of heating; Plaszow camp life including the harsh living conditions; fear of the manager of the camp; transfer to the Krakow Ghetto; administration of life in the Krakow Ghetto by the Judenrat; he jumps over a fence; escape back to the small Plaszow camp; contact with his father; labor in a factory; approach of the Red Army; transfer to Mauthausen camp; he stays in Mauthausen camp for a week; Mauthausen camp life including labor digging defense trenches and labor in a stone quarry; transfer to Melk camp; his stay in Melk camp for approximately six months; liberation; medical rehabilitation in Gunskirchen; he joins a youth movement; preparations for aliya to Eretz Israel; move to Salzburg; move to Italy; his stay in Italy for approximately two years; exiled to Cyprus; aliya to Israel, 1948; absorption.