In 1939, I ran away with my cousin and others to Russia.  At the time, we felt that the men were specifically at risk. We thought that the women and children would be safe.  At the Russian border, I refused to sign a pledge of loyalty to Russia and was sent to Siberia as a result.

I fled Siberia and trekked over the European continent to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.  After the war ended, I was attempting to go to Israel.  I went back to Europe because the Hagganah (Jewish paramilitary organization) asked survivors to help others immigrate to Israel.  I met Rose, my future wife in Barletta Displaced Persons Camp in Italy.  We had a child, Bill (Wolf, named after my first son and my father).  My wife and son were very ill and sent to a hospital in Rome.  We came to the United States in 1950. 

Israel is the only hope for the Jewish people to survive.  Another Holocaust should never happen again.  Sometimes a person can be strong as a lion and sometimes a person can be weak as a fly.  Israel is a guarantee that it will not happen again, they can go and fight. They have weapons to defend themselves.