Dr. David Engles will present the story of the survival of his father, Lazar Engles, during the Holocaust. David will present the story by reading excerpts from the book, “In the Ghettos and Forests”, that his father wrote in Yiddish in 1972. A few years ago, David translated the book into English and Yad Vashem will be publishing the English translation in the near future.

David’s presentation recounts his father’s experiences during the Shoah - his escape from the Vilna ghetto with the help of a Nazi officer, his miraculous escape from the infamous Lida death march and his experiences as the cook in the Bielski partisan camp, the camp that was the subject of the Hollywood movie “Defiance”. The presentation also includes an extraordinary and unique description of life as a partisan within a group of over 1,200 Jews who survived the harsh forest conditions, avoiding capture by the Germans, and overcoming the challenges of the forest with amazingly clever and inventive responses.