Tzvi I. Holocaust testimony

Videotape testimony of Tzvi I., who was born in Lenin, Poland (presently Belarus) in 1923, one of seven children. He recounts his father's murder when he was two; their poverty and constant hunger; attending a Tarbut, then Polish school; leaving school to help support his family; one sister's emigration to Israel in 1931; one brother's draft into the Polish military; Soviet occupation; German invasion; his brother's return from a POW camp; slave labor constructing utility poles; sabotaging the work; public executions; the threat of mass killings if anyone escaped; deportation with his brother to Hancewicze; planning an escape after learning that Lenin's Jews had been killed; the plans not working, but escaping with a few others; learning the entire camp escaped while the guards remained in bunkers; finding his younger brother while seeking to join a partisan unit; being accepted after proving their courage; finding his older brother in the group; burning a barn with Germans in it and setting much of the village on fire; missions blowing up trains; capturing Germans; killing them with knives to avoid discovery; considering this revenge; physical debilitation due to poor nutrition; enlistment in the Soviet military; combat against Ukrainian Banderas; completing formal training; intense battles with Germans; being wounded; transfer to a hospital in Cheboksary; release from the military in April 1945; visiting Moscow; moving to Minsk; attending law school; marriage; and becoming a judge.

4 videocassettes