Videotape testimony of Daniel I., who was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1932, an only child. He tells of his father's career as a writer and newspaper editor; his mother's as a teacher; an uncle, four aunts, and his grandmother emigrating to Palestine prior to his birth; German invasion in September 1939; destruction of their home by German bombs; fleeing to Soviet-occupied Białystok; moving to Moscow in summer 1940; attending school; visiting his aunt in Leningrad (presently Saint Petersburg); moving when his father found employment in Kaunas; attending a Yiddish school; German invasion; ghettoization; separation from his parents in a ghetto-wide selection in October 1941; sneaking back to them, saving himself from the mass killing of thousands; hiding with his parents during a round-up in 1942; registering his birth date as 1929 and learning carpentry to avoid deportations; opting to be deported with his father, rather than his mother when the ghetto was liquidated in July 1944; arrival at Landsberg, then Dachau the next day; deportation by train a week later; escaping through the window; hiding in a nearby forest; giving himself a Polish name; telling a farmer his parents had perished in the recent Warsaw uprising; the farmer bringing him to another farmer in Lędziny for employment; and observing the Auschwitz smokestacks en route.

Mr. I recalls his employer obtaining legal papers for him (the employer knew he was Jewish, but the family did not); attending church with them; arrival of Soviet troops; informing them his employer was not a German collaborator; traveling to Łódź in February 1946 after learning that Jews were there; attending school; learning his father had been killed and his mother had joined her sister in Moscow six months prior; her return; traveling with her to Germany, intending to join their relatives in Palestine; living in a Hashomer Hatzair refugee camp; assistance from the Joint; boarding the ship Exodus in France; interdiction by the British; eventual debarkation in Hamburg; living in a refugee camp; visiting Lübeck; illegal emigration with his mother to Palestine in April 1948; living with his relatives; military service; his education and career as an engineer; marriage; the births of two sons; a severe injury in the 1973 War from which he did not fully recover; corresponding with his rescuers until their deaths; and a visit from his rescuer's daughter in 1983. Mr. I. notes not sharing his experiences because no one in Israel was interested, and his children's interest when they were older.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Personal narratives.

World War, 1939-1945 > Personal narratives, Jewish.

World War, 1939-1945 > Children.

Jews > Migrations.

Jews > Lithuania > Kaunas.

Public opinion > Israel.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) > Public opinion.

Palestine > Emigration and immigration.