The testimony of Joseph Morton

      

         Joseph Morton was born as Joseph Mortkowitz. He was born on July 24, 1924. His place of birth was Lodz, Poland. Joseph had four brothers and one sister. They were all about 2-3 years apart. The Mortkowitz family lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Lodz Poland. Joseph’s mother stayed at home as a homemaker while his dad worked to support the family. They lived in an all-Jewish neighborhood, which later became a ghetto since it was already concentrated with all the Jews. The children all went to a public school. Joseph only got to the 7^th grade before the war started. They enclosed the ghetto in 1940. After that is when Joseph started to see trouble happening. Starvation was a major issue. People were very malnourished and starving on the streets. He noticed that the Germans were taking people away and they never returned.

                After a while, his family was loaded onto a cattle train. They were packed into it like animals. No one knew where they were going. They were only told that they were going to a place to work.  The Jews were on their way to Auschwitz Poland, which was a death camp. When they finally reached their destination they were rushed out and separated from each other. His father, brother Abe, and his cousin Jacob along with himself were together but the rest were taken elsewhere. Later on, he found out that his mother, sister and aunts were all killed as soon as they were taken away. The men were all put in striped uniforms and placed in huge barracks, which were very crowded. Each Jew had a number given to them. Joseph’s number was 71324-VII-13526. It was too late in the war to have them tattooed on their arm so it was on their uniform. Him and his brother and cousin were shipped off to Germany to work only after arriving in Auschwitz for 2weeks. Shortly after they got to Germany, they were liberated. From there he moved to Canada and 3 months later moved to the States . In Canada he met his now wife and they have children together.

                “… Do the best you can, enjoy it and live it up. “   ~Joseph Morton

                “they made us wear yellow bands to tell us apart from the rest” ~Joseph Morton