Henoch D. Holocaust testimony (HVT-1075) interviewed by Raya Adler and V. T. Weil

Videotape testimony of Henoch D., who was born in Vilna, Poland (presently Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1928, the younger of two brothers. He recalls attending a Tarbut school; German invasion; his father's disappearance and murder in Ponary; ghettoization; hiding during round-ups; his uncle arranging for him and his mother to move to a village farm; the non-Jewish villagers hiding them during round-ups; contacting his brother through a villager; smuggling food to the ghetto through the same man; discontinuing when it became too dangerous; returning to the ghetto with his mother in 1943; hiding during round-ups; deportation to Vaivara; friendship with another child; the head of his work group giving him extra food; assignment to burning corpses of executed Jews; transfer to Vivikoni for three months; separation from his friend; transfer to another camp for three months; hospitalization for typhus; obtaining extra food begging at local Estonian houses; transfer to Goldfilz; reunion with his brother; sharing extra food with him; their transfer to Stutthof; using ruses to appear older during selections; transfer to Dautmergen; convincing an officer not to select his brother for death; a death march; abandonment by the guards; liberation by French troops; traveling to Sigmaringen, then traveling to seek Jews planning to emigrate to Palestine; separation from his brother en route to Milan (his brother volunteered to bring others from eastern Europe); joining a hachsharah in Magenta; illegal emigration to Palestine; living on several kibbutzim based on his membership in Hashomer Hatzair; military training in Haganah; fighting in the Israel-Arab War; returning to the kibbutz; and meeting his wife. Mr. D. discusses developing his love for Israel during three years of kibbutz experiences; social connections helping him forget his painful memories, despite sensing that Israelis did not fully understand survivors; and thinking more about his past as he grows older.