Testimony of David Mendelovitz, born in Reghin, Romania, 1926, regarding his experiences in the Reghin Ghetto, a labor battalion, Mauthausen and Gunskirchen

Testimony of David Mendelovitz, born in Reghin, Romania, 1926, regarding his experiences in the Reghin Ghetto, a labor battalion, Mauthausen and Gunskirchen Life before the war; Sabbaths and religious holidays; the Jewish community; synagogues and youth movements; studies; Hanoar Hatzioni activities. Annexation to Hungary; draft of his father to forced labor; his Bar Mitzvah celebration; murder of a female relative by Hungarians; Reghin as a center for draftees to forced labor; drafted to Levente; German occupation, March 1944; behavior of the Hungarians; anti-Jewish decrees including yellow badge; shearing of beards; meets a Jew who had escaped from the Polish Army; confiscation of valuables by Hungarian gendarmes; deportation to the Reghin Ghetto; ghetto life; drafted to labor battalions; training, humiliations and methods of punishment; forced labor as part of the labor battalions; religious life; rumors about the capture of Hannah Szenes; letters from his parents; death march in the direction of Germany during the winter; shooting of those who lagged behind; deaths of marchers from cold; help from German residents who gave food; deportation to Mauthausen; lice; mortality from starvation; transfer to Gunskirchen; removal of corpses and their burial in mass graves; liberation by the US Army. Murder of his father and brother in Auschwitz; return home; his mother's and sisters' move to Italy with Bericha; reunion with his mother and sisters in Italy; aliya attempt to Eretz Israel on the ship, "Moledet"; detention in Cyprus; aliya to Israel, 1948.