Yitzkhak Tesler

Testimony of Yitzchak Tesler, born in Debrecen, Hungary, 1920, regarding his experiences in Budapest, the Soviet Union and Poland Life before the war; Jewish community; death of his mother, 1935; learns to be a baker; remarriage of his father; move to Budapest. Drafted to labor battalions; deportation to the Soviet Union; life in the Soviet Union including confiscation of valuables, labor constructing and dismantling mines; death of a friend; transfer to Poland, 1944; capture by the Red Army; disappearance of his father; life in Poland including labor in coal mines under Red Army soldier supervision; transfer to Odessa; German POWs in Soviet Army captivity; life in Odessa including forced labor; release, June 1947. Return to Debrecen; work in a bakery; enlists in the Palmach; aliya to Israel, 1948; combat in the War of Independence; aliya of his brother via detention in Cyprus; marriage, 1954; starts a family.