Jacob Finkelstein was born in 1924 in Poland. During the war, he claimed his birth year was 1923 so that he could be 16 years of age. In that way, he could serve in the military. He did so for his father and was paid to do so for others. Finkelstein's parents had two boys and four girls. His brother married and had four children. His sister married and had two children. Some siblings were older and others younger than him. One sister told him when they were being deported that they would be killed by the Germans. She cried during the transit. Finkelstein's father was a cantor which is a singer for synagogue services. His father also had a grocery store. Finkelstein spoke Polish, Yiddish and a little Hebrew in his youth. Religion was very important to his family. He still wears his kippah on his head. Before Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] came to power, there were no problems with the Poles. Neighbors thought to be friends turned on the Jews. In contrast, people thought not to be good turned out otherwise. Propaganda helped make the changes in the non-Jewish populace. Finkelstein was helping in the family store during the time of the German invasion [Annotator's Note: Germany invaded Poland on 1 September 1939]. He was 15 years old but with the onset of war, he claimed to be 16 so that he could serve in the war. Even so, they beat him up.

The Russians invaded the section of Poland inhabited by Jacob Finkelstein prior to the Germans entering his town. The Second World War started in Europe with the Germans and Russians subdividing Poland. The German part was called the General Government. The Russians entered Poland and declared war on 17 September [Annotator's Note: the Germans entered Poland on 1 September 1939, just 16 days before]. When the Russians entered his town a few days later, they treated everyone well. They only stayed for about two weeks. Finkelstein's father had been in the Russian Army as a young man. Three Russian Jews and four other army officers slept in his house. The soldiers treated him well. As a result, the patriarch wanted to go to Russia. The Jewish officers were commissars in the army. They told the elder Finkelstein that he should not go to Russia because of the lack of freedom for religion there. That persuaded him not to go. It was only later that he realized that he made a big mistake. After the Russians left, the Germans came in and there were big changes. The Wehrmacht [Annotator's Note: the German military] soldiers would catch Jews and beat them up. The Judenrat authority was organized to represent the Jewish community. They went to the General Government and agreed to supply people if the beatings would stop. That proposition was acceptable to all. From 12 years of age and up, the Star of David had to worn on the exterior of the clothes. To not do so was punishable by death. Some of his sisters never did comply. In 1942, the day after the Shabbat Jewish holiday, the Gestapo came in with wagons. Finkelstein ran in the opposite direction as he always did when he saw Gestapo. They fired at him but missed. He escaped the incident. The Germans captured 43 Jews and took them to the Jewish cemetery. The 43 were executed at close range in groups of ten. Finkelstein's sisters managed to observe what was happening without being discovered. Two and a half weeks later, the family was deported. Three days were allowed for families to prepare for the transport. Food and valuables were gathered. Finkelstein was given family photographs to carry. The pictures helped him to survive. If a person refused to go, they were shot. The first deportation was on 10 June 1942. By October, Hrubieszów was "Juden Frei" [Annotator's Note: German for "free of Jews"]. On 19 October, a Polish family gave Finkelstein shelter from the deportation. He was just one lucky individual as opposed to the many caught up in the expulsion. He owes a debt to that family. He was lucky to survive being significantly wounded at one time. There were no doctors to treat him. His first wound was in a forest while he was hiding along with 50 other people. The group was mainly men with a few women and children. When he was deported, he was sent to Sobibór [Annotator's Note: a Nazi death camp in eastern Poland]. He was only there for two days and never discovered what was going on there. He was taken to another camp where there was no food or rations. People quickly became sick. They were kept outdoors for three days in June. People suffered from heat and sun exposure. Finkelstein was with his brother and father at the camp. His brother told his father that the camp was "death." Finkelstein was kept from the truth of what was happening. The males did not know that the females in the family had been gassed right away after arrival [Annotator's Note: presumably at Sobibór]. Eventually, Finkelstein ran away. He had three death sentences passed on him. The first punishment was for his drowning. The second was for him to be hanged and the third was for execution by shooting. He was saved by a Gestapo member where he worked. He had killed other Jews but saved Finkelstein. It may have been due to an incident dealing with Finkelstein telling the truth about the loss of a ration of bread. In any case, a Czech Jew captured Finkelstein and, using his suspenders, leashed Finkelstein like a dog and pulled him over seven kilometers back to the camp. Polish civilians were asking for mercy for Finkelstein, but the Czech refused. There were two commandants in the camp. One was for the work and the other was for the camp. Finkelstein was brought before a Polish hangman who said he would be hung from a nearby tree. Then he was brought to the work commandant so he could be shot for his escape. When Finkelstein saw the men talking and he observed the commandant, he knew he would not be executed. The German commandant saved his life.

Jacob Finkelstein ran away from captivity a second time with his cousin. His escape was successful that time [Annotator's Note: Finkelstein had attempted escape previously but was captured and nearly executed]. The wire around his compound was not electrified. His father cut the barbed wire and showed his son where he could escape. The two boys ran away wearing only camp pajamas. They were half naked. [Annotator's Note: He speaks offline to another person telling her that he had no uniform and he had "no numbers" meaning, probably, he had not been tattooed.] His camp was called Staw [Annotator's Note: near Lublin, Poland]. Esther Raab was in the camp. [Annotator's Note: Raab would later be sent to Sobibór where she would escape. She survived to tell the horrendous stories of death camp atrocities.] Finkelstein's father did not escape with his son because he thought he could reunite with his remaining family. It was not until after the war that Finkelstein discovered that his father, mother and siblings had died under the Nazis. After escaping Staw, Finkelstein and his cousin pretended to be Poles. They said they were from Lublin which was on the Russian front. They were sent there to get horses but ran away instead. They were provided with pants and shirts before leaving. They promised to see each other later, but they never did. They were in the forests in the summer and winter of 1944. He saw three men and a woman who inquired about his identity. They told Finkelstein that they had a Jewish boy named Mendeleck. When the Poles were deported to be killed, they gave up the boy. People were taken from the three counties of Hrubieszów, Zamość, and Tomaszow starting in 1943. Over 500 were killed. After liberation, Finkelstein had no papers. He was jailed as a result. A man named Yasek Sikora [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling] along with two Russian military police arrested Finkelstein. Sikora knew Finkelstein but gave him up to the Russians to prevent his own incarceration. Finkelstein could speak some Russian so he talked to one of his captors. The Russian asked the police chief why he was holding Finkelstein. The chief did not even know he was in his jail. If it had been night, Sikora would have taken Finkelstein out and shot him. He had already killed many Jews. Finkelstein's life in the forest was terrible. He does not know how he survived. The forest was very cold. He escaped to the woods before the Ukrainians were sent in to deport the Jews. Things were so bad in the forest that he could only obtain water at night from the livestock water troughs. He washed and drank water from the troughs. At one point, Ukrainians were looking for a chicken thief. The found Finkelstein and asked who he was. He said that he worked for a local resident but could work for them as well. Although he could barely walk, Finkelstein hid that inability when he left the forest with them [Annotator's Note: he had been wounded during his escape]. He finally told a Ukrainian that he was Jewish. The guard told Finkelstein that he had turned over Jews to the Gestapo before. Finkelstein began kissing the pictures he had of his family. The guards did not know what he was doing. Finkelstein had been aided by a Polish woman who provided him with matches. He could not have survived in the forest without them. He knew the area and was able to steal from the plentiful local supply of potatoes without fear of reprisals. He baked the potatoes at night and lived on that diet for 13 of the 19 months in the forest. He had no dairy, [Annotator's Note: inaudible] or vegetables. He joined a group of mostly men and only ten percent of that group survived. The forest belonged to a nice rancher. She saved them from spring 1943 to 20 December 1943. The woman spoke German and could communicate with the Gestapo. Through that ability, she was able to alert the Jewish people in the forest when they should move. The forester would transfer the warning from the woman to the Jews. The forester was named [Annotator's Note: inaudible] and was a good man. Finally, on 20 December, with the snow nearly two meters deep, the group of Jews in the forest was surrounded and could not escape. Trying to run would leave tracks. Finkelstein was wounded during the action. He was one of the ten people to survive from the group. One individual still lives in Israel. After the attack, Finkelstein and four other men went to another forest. One of the survivors knew a local woman. He requested iodine from her. She went to the store in town and to obtain some. She was interrogated as to why she needed the medication. She said she needed it for a Jewish boy. The medication was given to her at no cost. The druggist had adopted a Jewish boy who had been taken from him and executed. Some women had survived the ambush in the forest but most of them died later. The ambush was on 20 December 1943 which was the day before the Jewish holiday of Hanukah. The Jews had to be constantly on the move to evade capture. In spring and summer of 1944, they had to hide in the rye or wheat fields. Deprived of potatoes at that point, they ate the ripened grain and blew the chaff out as they did. [Annotator's Note: Finkelstein chuckles.] When the wheat was cut, the refugees had no place to hide. They were liberated on 24 July 1944 after being in the grain fields for about two weeks. They mainly sought refuge in the forests. They would stay in one location until the local people discovered them and squealed to the authorities. One boy denounced them twice. The Jews saw him the first time and would have killed him the second time, but they did not see him before he turned them in to the Gestapo. The Gestapo gave the informers small rewards for being informers. Finkelstein's father and another man, a slaughterer, survived until they were taken to Sobibór. The executioners went from town to town in a systematic way to eliminate the Jews. Finkelstein and his father managed to stay together during part of November [Annotator's Note: presumably 1942] until they were denounced by locals to the Gestapo. Some of the people helping them were former customers and friends. They were turned over by people to the Nazis. Finkelstein had his hands restrained. His father was not tied up because he had been recently beaten. As they were being transported in a wagon, Finkelstein's father told him in Jewish that he would loosen his son's hands so that he could escape. When they reached a forest, the boy was to run away. His father admonished him to survive because no matter how many Jews were killed nearby, Jews would survive somewhere else. Finkelstein did escape. He did not know where to go. Consequently, he returned to where he had originally been apprehended. He remained there for a few days with no food. He ate bitter alfalfa seeds. He stayed with a Polish couple until they relocated to Chelm. There, the couple took refuge with some Ukrainians who protected them from the police. Finkelstein was only two kilometers from the forest, but he had no idea there were refugees hiding there. When the Ukrainians found Finkelstein in the forest, he told them that he would not leave. The man sent his wife to find the Gestapo. Finkelstein was a very strong boy during his youth. He stood up and hit the Ukrainian. [Annotator's Note: He stands and gestures off camera where he struck his pursuer.] He ran away back into the unnamed forest that belonged to the rancher. The forest had no streets.

Jacob Finkelstein was desperate after fleeing the Ukrainians attempting to denounce him. He found an abandoned house and entered it. A man came at night to steal potatoes. Finkelstein went to see what the intruder was doing. It was a Jewish man stealing potatoes for gentiles. He told Finkelstein that he could not stay. The man and his brothers took Finkelstein's boots and jacket. The jacket was full of lice but they still took it. They threatened to kill him if he did not tell them where his fellow escapee, Moshe, was located. A bit later, they returned with a woman who knew Finkelstein and his family. She said to leave the boy alone. Finkelstein did manage to locate a coat and boots and left the house for the forest. [Annotator's Note: Finkelstein spent 19 months taking refuge in the forest.] The man came back to kill him but Finkelstein remained in the forest. He would return to the house only to get water from the small well. Moshe was killed and thrown into that same well. The water helped preserve the remains. Finkelstein discovered the fate of Moshe after the war. Finkelstein came in contact with a woman who had been sheltered by a Polish woman until the money ran out. After there was no money, the woman had to seek shelter elsewhere. She was searching for her brother-in-law but had nothing to eat. He told her to stay with him and she could share the potatoes he stole. [Annotator's Note: Potatoes were plentiful in the region. He stole them at night without fear of reprisal.] She stayed with Finkelstein. She and her six year old boy were killed by the Polish Home Army one week before liberation. The army may have been supported by England but he did not know. Until 1943, they did not bother the Jews. If they did not kill the Jews, they turned them over to the Gestapo. Despite the severity of life in the forests, the inhabitants adjusted. The lice would be killed while they heated up potatoes over the fire. The eggs did not fall into the flames because of the way they were attached to the clothing. Finkelstein was wounded while he was in the forest. [Annotator's Note: He points to entry and exit wounds off camera.] His hand was paralyzed. After liberation, he visited a doctor in Austria who told him he was very lucky to survive. His ability to make it through all the problems was due to his faith. He has not only survived but thrived. His family has grown and become well educated and successful members of society. Most of the refugees who were in hiding with Finkelstein during the Holocaust were religious people. One Ukrainian who wanted to be with the Jews was with the group when they were attacked in December 1943. He was killed. He was a good man. Although there were no synagogues, Finkelstein tried to observe the Jewish holidays. Liberation came as he and four other men were lying in a wheat field. They heard German and thought that someone had squealed on them. The Germans were actually spooling up their communication wires before retreating. One of the men in Finkelstein's group was relieving himself when he heard the Germans. He could not stand up so he sat down. A Pole saw the Jews and told them that liberation had come. That night, the group went into town and saw the woman who had treated Finkelstein after he had been wounded. She killed a duck and made supper for her guests. He did not eat meat so he abstained. Following liberation, the same Poles who had been squealing were killing. One man who was killed was from Finkelstein's group of refugees. He had relatives in Argentina but made the mistake of going into a small town. He was killed. Finkelstein had warned him to go into large towns, not a small one. That happened in June [Annotator's Note: 1945] which was 11 months after liberation. The killer, Sikora [Annotator's Note: unsure of spelling], was the same man who had previously arrested Finkelstein and would have killed him after nightfall if a Ukrainian had not managed to obtain his freedom from jail. Sikora was thought to be a nice man by the Poles. He is still alive. Poles could not believe they had countrymen guilty of murder. The Home Army was guilty of killings. If a person could not be denounced to the Nazis, the murder would be perpetrated by the Poles anyway. Finkelstein was treated daily in the hospital for his wounds following his liberation. That was in Linz, Austria. He had gone from Poland to Czechoslovakia to Vienna. Vienna was being controlled by America, Russia, England and France. He went to the American zone. Papers were made saying they were Greeks. They went to the American zone in Austria for nearly five years. It took about six months after liberation to reach Austria. He could not stay in Poland. He did not find out about the outcome of his family until later. His brother had been poisoned by a Pole who was hiding him along with two girls. One of the two girls died in June 1945. They were Argentine but when war broke out, they could not return. One of the women had two daughters. Eventually, the two women were killed. Finkelstein could have been killed ten times in Poland after liberation.

Jacob Finkelstein came to the United States on 18 September 1958. He settled in New York and then moved to New Jersey. He remained there for 30 years and saw his children grow. They succeeded well in their education. He moved to Cherry Hill afterward. He talked about his Holocaust experience right away. A rabbi suggested not talking to their children until they were older. When Spielberg and Shoah came to prominence, they began speaking more about their experiences. [Annotator's Note: Steven Spielberg directed the movie "Schindler's List", released in 1995. The "Shoah" multipart documentary was screened in 1985.] Finkelstein suffers after discussing his past. He has sleepless nights and bad dreams. The Holocaust changed him by making him live as normal a life as possible. World War 2 changed the lives of millions of Jews. If the Nazis had not come to power, many Jews would still be alive. Finkelstein had a cousin who was his age. He was a genius. He was hiding from the Germans when he saw his family captured. He came out of hiding to be with them. The Gestapo laughed at the boy for turning himself in when he knew he would be killed. The cousin was subsequently killed. The National Holocaust Museum in Washington is significant in helping to avoid other killings. At first, Finkelstein's town was not a ghetto. Eventually, the Germans would kill men and women who lived there. They would use death to intimidate the citizens. They moved from one town to another in doing so. Finkelstein's wife suffered from loss of family members also. The Jews felt betrayed by some of the citizens who seemed to be the best people beforehand. Conversely, others thought not to be so good, turned out to be just the opposite. After liberation, Finkelstein would meet with one such individual who helped him in the war. He had a drink with them. Finkelstein's hometown was Uchanie [Annotator's Note: in the county of Hrubieszów in Poland].