Avraham Woltser Valtzer

Testimony of Avraham Woltser, born in Tomaszow Lubelski, Poland, 1925, regarding his experiences in Rawa Ruska, Siberia, Guryev and Biesgun From a traditional Zionist family; witness's father is a house painter and his mother is a housewife. Escape to a village with the outbreak of the war; in hiding and return home; unsuccessful attempts to escape to the Soviet area; return to Tomaszow Lubelski; escape to Rawa Ruska with his father; life in Rawa Ruska including labor painting for the Red Army; deportation to Siberia; life in Siberia including labor logging trees; learns in a dormitory; arrival in Guryev with his father, 1942; life in Guryev including metalwork labor manufacturing tin ovens for the army; draft to a labor battalion as a garage mechanic; life with the battalion including labor logging trees and repairing vehicles; escape to Biesgun with his father, 1944; life in Biesgun including illegal commerce; escape incidents and capture by the military police; integration into the Biesgun community; end of the war, 1945. Move to Lodz, spring 1946; joins Hanoar Hatzioni; training at the Palmach training camp near Bari; aliya attempt on the ship, "Shabbetai Lozinsky"; detention in Cyprus; aliya to Israel, January 1949; absorption on Kibbutz Mivtachim.