"From Hell to Home"
Extent and Medium
folders
2
Creator(s)
- Matisyahu Goldberg
Biographical History
Matisyahu Goldberg, originally of Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania, survived the Kovno ghetto, forced labor in Kaišiadorys and in Kazlų Rūda, and the Dachau concentration camp. He was liberated by the American military while on a forced march from Dachau. After the war, he attempted to go to Poland, was forced to join the Red Army, and made his way to the Föhrenwald displaced persons camp. He emigrated to Palestine in 1949 and participated in the Israeli war of Independence.
Archival History
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Rivka Geva
Becky Weiss donated her cousin's memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2012. Rivka Geva donated a copy of the original Hebrew memoir in 2012 and, as Matisyahu Goldberg was her father, completed the paperwork for the entire donation in 2014.
Scope and Content
Consists of one copy of a memoir, 143 pages, in Hebrew with English translation, entitled "From Hell to Home," written by Matisyahu Goldberg, originally of Kaunas (Kovno), Lithuania. In the memoir, Mr. Goldberg describes his family, childhood and religious life in Lithuania; his involvement with the Irgun Zvi Leumi; life in the Kovno ghetto; forced labor in Kaišiadorys and in Kazlų Rūda. In 1944, he was forced to return to Kovno and deported from there to Dachau, arriving in July 1944. He was liberated by the American military while on a forced march from Dachau. After the war, he attempted to go to Poland but was forced to join the Red Army; he eventually arrived at the Föhrenwald displaced persons camp. There, he married and worked in the survivor administration of the camp before emigrating to Palestine in 1949, where he participated in the Israeli war of Independence. The English copy was translated by Carl and Nechama Alpert and includes an additional family tree.
System of Arrangement
“From Hell to Home” is arranged as a single series.
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Copyright Holder: Ms. Rivka Geva
People
- Goldberg, Matisyahu.
Subjects
- Jews--Lithuania--Kaunas.
- Jews--Persecutions--Lithuania--Kaunas.
- Kazlų Rūda (Kapsuko rajonas, Lietuva)
Genre
- Personal narratives.
- Document