Testimony of Ralf Joseph Strausberg, born in Lodz, Poland, 1926, regarding his experiences in the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Gleiwitz camp, Blechhammer and in hiding in a forest

Testimony of Ralf Joseph Strausberg, born in Lodz, Poland, 1926, regarding his experiences in the Lodz Ghetto, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Gleiwitz camp, Blechhammer and in hiding in a forest Life before the war; religious family with hardships; attends Yavneh school; Beitar and Hashomer Hatzair activities. German occupation, 1939; restrictions on the Jews; confiscation of property; yellow badge; restrictions on movement; deportation to the Lodz Ghetto, 1940; ghetto life including forced labor in construction; "Aktions" and in hiding in an attic in a large container; Judenrat activities under the leadership of Chaim Rumkowski; Jewish police activities; "Aktion"; deportation to Auschwitz-Birkenau, summer 1941; camp life including selection and separation from his mother and sister; labor house painting; deportation to Gleiwitz with his brother; escape attempt of the brother and murder of the brother; camp life; his father's illness; transfer in a death march, January 1945; sleeps one night at Blechhammer camp; escape to a forest; life in hiding in a forest; liberation by the Red Army. Return to Lodz; draft to the Polish Army; escape to Germany; move with his mother to Sweden; life in Sweden including reunion with his mother who came for convalescence; marriage; immigration to the United States, 1948; aliya to Israel, 1986.