Testimony of Israel Sruli Berkovitz, born in Svalava, Czechoslovakia, 1926, regarding his experiences in Auschwitz, Mauthausen and a death march

Testimony of Israel Sruli Berkovitz, born in Svalava, Czechoslovakia, 1926, regarding his experiences in Auschwitz, Mauthausen and a death march Life before the war; family owns a leather shop; attends a Czech school and a Jewish school; Beitar, Hashomer Hatzair and Hapoel Hamizrachi activities; aliya training. Outbreak of the war, 1939; re-annexation to Hungary; decrees including the closing of shops and expulsion from school; his father's death, 1943; deportation to Auschwitz, 1944; camp life including the murder of his mother and siblings; transfer to Mauthausen; camp life including labor digging bunkers for an aircraft factory; death march in the direction of Germany, May 1945; liberation by the US Army. Medical treatment; aliya to Eretz Israel aboard the ship, "Ben Hecht", 1947.