Testimony of Meir Emil Hirschler, born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1921, regarding his experiences in Bratislava, his unsuccessful aliya attempt to Eretz Israel on the "Pencho" ship, and his experiences in Mohacs, Rodi and Ferramonti di Tarsia camps and in other places

Testimony of Meir Emil Hirschler, born in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, 1921, regarding his experiences in Bratislava, his unsuccessful aliya attempt to Eretz Israel on the "Pencho" ship, and his experiences in Mohacs, Rodi and Ferramonti di Tarsia camps and in other places Life before the war; activities in the Beitar movement. Persecution of Jews, as of October 1938; activities for self-defense in the Jewish quarter; giving of help to refugees by the Jewish community; Aryanization; decision to escape from Slovakia; illegal aliya attempt to Eretz Israel on the "Pencho" ship, May 1940; stopping of the ship in Mohacs; lack of fuel and food; Hungarian and Polish refugees embark on the ship; travel of the ship via Yugoslavia, Romania and Bulgaria; receiving of a supply of food and fuel from the JDC organization; collision of the ship on a boulder in the area of Crete, October 1940; sinking of the ship; arrival to the island of Camilla Nisi; life on the desolate island; rescue from the island by Italian soldiers; transfer to Rodi; camp life; receives help from the local Jewish community; transfer to Ferramonti di Tarsia, March 1942; meets his brother; camp life; smuggling of food; marriage, and the birth of his son; liberation by the British Army, September 1943. Receives knowledge regarding the murder of his family in Auschwitz; aliya to Eretz Israel, March 1945.