Testimony of Arie Shiper Shapir, born in Ciechlin, Poland, 1923, regarding his experiences in Brussels, Morteaux, Neuchatel, Bellechasse and other places

Testimony of Arie Shiper Shapir, born in Ciechlin, Poland, 1923, regarding his experiences in Brussels, Morteaux, Neuchatel, Bellechasse and other places From a Zionist family; move to Pulawy; move to Jozefow; family moves to Brussels, 1930; active in Bnei Akiva and Hashomer Hatzair; meeting with refugees from Germany and Austria. Outbreak of the war, September 1939; severing of contact with the Hashomer Hatzair leadership in Warsaw; German occupation, May 1940; family escapes to southern France; life as refugees; escape to Brussels, September 1940; life in Brussels including restrictions on Jews; his brother's contacts with the Belgian underground; Jewish Communist underground activities; obtains a Belgian identity card from a municipal clerk in Seraing; deportations and escape to Morteaux with his girl friend, July 1942; life in Neuchatel; arrest; life in detention including meeting friends from Hashomer Hatzair; transfer to detention in Bellechasse; life in detention including Zionist and cultural activities; contact with movement leadership; help from the Jewish community; transfer to Sierre; camp life including Zionist activities; escape to Langenthal, early 1944; life in an agricultural school including contact with the Jewish Agency; orders from the movement to set up Hashomer Hatzair chapters in France; illegally crosses the border to Annemasse in the Free Zone with help from the French underground. Move to Grenoble; life in Grenoble including establishing a children's home for Jewish children removed from monasteries; returning the children to Judaism and education; move to Belgium, March 1945; reorganization of Hashomer Hatzair with help from the Jewish Brigade; aliya to Eretz Israel, 1946; move to Belgium as part of Hashomer Hatzair; life in Belgium including helping youth make aliya to Israel, 1949.