Marcel Mordekhai Lerer

Testimony of Mordechai Marcel Lerer, born in Iasi, Romania, 1928, regarding his experiences in Iasi in labor camps From a farming family; life on the family farm including learning in a "heder" and public school. Outbreak of the war; deportation to the Jewish quarter with his family; life in the quarter including deportation of his father and older brother to a labor camp, 1942; capture on the street during a manhunt; transfer to a labor camp; camp life including forced labor as a logger of trees; escape from the camp; in hiding in destroyed houses; liberation by the Red Army, 1944. Reunion with his family; joins Hashomer Hatzair; life in a DP camp in Austria; move to Italy; joins the Irgun in Italy; aliya attempt on the ship, "Altalena"; the "Altalena" incident; injury and convalescence; enlists in the IDF; release.