Testimony of Jacob Israel Katvan, born in Cernauti, Romania, 1923, regarding his experiences in Cernauti, the USSR and Tashkent

Testimony of Jakob Israel Katvan, born in Cernauti, Romania, 1923, regarding his experiences in Cernauti, the USSR and Tashkent Childhood in an Orthodox family including attending a Jewish school; Maccabi sports activities; displays of antisemitism before the war; cases of provocation and opposition to giving aid to the refugees; prevention of making aliya [to Eretz Israel] by the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. Outbreak of the war; occupation [of Cernauti] by the Red Army; deportation of wealthy people to Siberia; transfer with friends to the Soviet Union and studies at a school for spies; transfer to Tashkent, Uzbekistan; life in Tashkent including hunger; drafted into the labor battalions; provision of food to the loggers; receiving information about the fate of the Jews; deportation of his parents to Transnistria; death of his mother; end of the war. Move back to Cernauti; reunion with his father; Bnei Akiva activities; establishing an orphanage with the help of the JDC; unsuccessful aliya attempt to Eretz Israel; detention in Cyprus; return aliya to Eretz Israel, 1948.