Abstract:

The late Ida Kaplan was the sister of Yosef (Josef) Kaplan, one of the leaders of the Hashomer Hatzair active in the Warsaw revolt. She described her wanderings during the war with her small son. From the city of Lodz through devastated Warsaw they made their way to Bialystok, then under Soviet rule, where she met her brother Josef for the last time. Josef returned to Nazi-occupied Warsaw in order to coordinate the activities of the movement. Soon after the conquest of Bialystok by the Nazis in 1941, she lost her husband who was taken to work along with thousands of men, all of whom were shot. She continued her wanderings, supporting herself with various jobs. Sometimes she was hidden by Christians. Finally she joined the family camp of the Bielski brothers in the forests of Naliboki in western Belorussia. Most of Kaplan's story describes the camp and episodes of camp life, up to the liberation of the area by the Red Army in 1944.

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