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Devan McCallister Mr. Neuberger ENG Comp 102 104 7 October 2011 Summary of Joseph Mortons Holocaust Testimony

Joseph Morton was born on July 11, 1924 in Lodz, Poland. He had four brothers and one sister. His father was a tailor and his family resided in an apartment amongst a Jewish community. As a kid Mr. Morton remembered a lot of anti- Semitism recollecting a memory of a group of people that committed violent hate crimes towards Jewish citizens. He remembered playing games like soccer or riding bikes with friends. He led a simple life where hot water and food were not in abundance.

The first sign of danger was when Mr. Morton heard what the Germans were doing to Jewish citizens. Eventually the Germans came and shortly afterwards blocked off the Jewish community from the outside turning it into a ghetto. During these times Mr. Morton recalls hearing about soldiers blocking off streets and calling people out of there houses. Some of these people were taken and never heard from again while others were beaten and tortured. They would take people and shove their face into crap! said Mr. Morton.

To differentiate between Jewish citizens and others the Jewish people would have to wear yellow arm bands and then eventually yellow stars. Mr. Morton repeated the beating, killing, and disappearing of Jews as if to emphasize the prejudice. He and his family lived on rations. When asked how much the rations were, he stated I dont remember, but how ever much it was it was

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not enough. A difficult life soon became a suffering one in ghetto. They had to work all day for the tiny rations along with waiting in line for strenuous amount of time. Some of the jobs included making products for the military. When the ghettos began to be liquidated Mr. Morton makes the powerful statement If we had known about what was waiting for us at Auschwitz then we would have killed ourselves, grabbed a stick fought, or something. They were taken from the camp in a cattle wagon treated no more than life stock. How do you preserve your humanity after something like that? Mr. Morton and his family knew nothing more about where they were going other than a new place to work. They had not a clue that the cold fingers of deaths cruel fist would soon grab them and turn them into shells of their former selves.

This is when the real survival came into play. Joseph and his family were separated never to see his mother, sister and younger brothers again. Knowing this was the end of the road they took the first opportunity to get out they could by joining what you could call a workgroup. Food was scarce, starvation was normal, and soon an epidemic of typhoid spread. Joseph Morton was hanging on the last thread of his life blinded by hunger, fatigue, and sickness he couldnt even witness his own liberation by the Americans.