Testimony of Rachel (Goldberg) Beeri, born in Kowel, Poland, regarding her experiences in Grochow, in the underground in Zbaszyn, Vilna, her aliya to Eretz Israel, 1941 and more

Testimony of Rachel (Goldberg) Beeri, born in Kowel, Poland, regarding her experiences in Grochow, in the underground in Zbaszyn, Vilna, her aliya to Eretz Israel, 1941 and more Life before the war; from a Zionist family; activities and leadership in Hechalutz Hatzair; attends the "Pioneer Seminary" in Warsaw, 1937; life in the aliya training facility in Grochow; deportation from Germany to Zbaszyn of people with Polish citizenship; move to Zbaszyn; life in Zbaszyn; adoption of approximately 50 Zbaszyn refugee children into the Grochow aliya training facility group; care for the children with another counselor. Outbreak of the war; receipt of a directive from the Zionist institutions to escape to Kowel with the children; movement during the nights under German air-raids; escape to Vilna with the children; obtaining visas to make aliya to Eretz Israel via Sweden through Youth Aliyah; escape with the children to a farm in the Vilna area; life on the farm including academic and vovational training of the children; obtaining exit permits via Moscow and Turkey for the "graduates"; activities with the Zionist underground and help to Jewish refugees in their escape to Lithuania; transferring money to Poland; help from underground activists in crossing borders illegally; preparation of forged certificates for legal aliya to Eretz Israel Help from the Turkish Ambassador in Lithuania in obtaining pending visas for the Jewish immigrants in Turkey; aliya to Eretz Israel, February 1941.