place:"Romania, Europe" found 1 record - The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network

Notes: Issie Veisfeld was born on July 10, 1928 in Iasi, Romania. He recalled a history of significant antisemitism while growing up, stating that Romanians would physically assault Jews to entertain themselves. He gives a vivid description of the Iasi Pogrom, which took place on June 27, 1941, describing how Romanian authorities rounded up Jews, executed on mass, had those who survived bury the dead, and then transported them to Transnistria. However, Issie explains that his father, who was an upholsterer for the Romanian Army, was warned by a Turkish officer about the forthcoming Pogrom, allowing him and Issie to hide in their attic when the roundup was occurring. His father’s job and connections were also the reasons that they were not deported from Iasi during the War. Unfortunately, while both his mother and sister survived the War, his father was killed during an Allied bombing run over Iasi in 1944, weeks before the war ended in Romania. Iasi was liberated by the Red Army in August 1944, after which Issie states Romanians and Ukrainians who had collaborated with the Germans were executed. He decided to leave Romania when former collaborationists and fascists started joining and gaining influence in the Communist Party. The government would not let him leave without paying a bribe, so he left illegally by sneaking out in 1947 with his mother and sister, traveling through several European cities before finally leaving for Canada in 1948.

Veisfeld, Issie - Oral History of a Holocaust Survivor