"For me, the tunnel was a godsend. It gave me hope. We had heard the stories about a Jewish partisan group organised by the four Bielski brothers who had refused to submit to the German terror and had gone into hiding in the forest. I knew the youngest brother, Archik, very well, as we had gone to the same school.
Their group gave us hope. They would provide a place to run to if we could get out of the camp. I couldn't stop thinking about joining the partisans. And there was one thing that I knew for sure - I would rather have been killed trying to escape than murdered in the camp.
"Of course, there were some setbacks, but for three months 60 to 70 people would sit every day passing bags of soil out of the tunnel. Nobody complained. Just the word ‘tunnel' would completely change the atmosphere in the camp.
"But in July, just two months before our escape, I had some crushing news. My father, who before the war had run two workshops making saddles and sandals, told me that he had been selected as one of 10 specialist tradespeople who were being sent to a different camp. As he left me the sadness was overwhelming. I couldn't believe that he had to leave so soon before our escape. I had believed we would both get out and survive and now he was being taken from me. To this day, I can still see him putting on a brave face and saying he would see me soon. But we knew it was goodbye forever. I was devastated.
"He was later killed in February 1944 while trying to escape from the camp he had been sent to.
"With the escape imminent, I knew I had to carry on. My feet began to feel better but I was tremendously weak. Eventually I could walk a little again and started to help with the tunnel. Every night I sat in line and passed the bags of earth. It was the one positive thing in my life amid so much sadness and loss.
"We planned to escape in the second week of August. At the end of the tunnel we were going to come out into a wheat field. The wheat would camouflage us as we ran towards the forest. But just days before the escape the wheat was cut. Escape into an open field was impossible. None of us would have survived.
The escape committee decided to dig 150 metres further, to the end of the ridge. In the middle of September a meeting was called, and a vote was taken. There were still some people who said it was better to die in the camp than to run, but by that point almost everyone wanted to escape. I would be among the last into the tunnel, along with my friend Pesach. The date was set for September 26. I felt such excitement. I knew deep down that I was going to survive and I couldn't wait to join the Bielskis. The night finally arrived. It was dark and rainy - it seemed like it was made to order. No-one was allowed into the tunnel until the leaders had broken through the surface and made sure it was safe. And then the line began to slowly move forwards. I felt no fear as I approached the tunnel, just exhilaration. When I was about half way through I heard gunfire outside. Suddenly, I was terrified that the guards would be shooting at us as we came out. But I carried on. When I finally emerged I could see the whole field alive with flying bullets. The adrenaline was so high it is hard to remember what was going through my mind. I just started running. I had to get out of the field as quickly as possible.
"Once we were out of the field, I began walking with Pesach to reach the forest. We walked for five days looking for the Bielski group. We hid during the days and walked at night, constantly aware of the danger of getting caught. It was difficult to actually comprehend that we had made it. We had escaped. The pain in my feet was almost unbearable, but my determination to find the Bielskis overtook everything. Eventually, we came across a group of people speaking Yiddish. They were partisan fighters returning from a mission. We approached them and they took us back to their base. Their commander was Tuvia Bielski. We had found them. We were so lucky.
"It is impossible to calculate the odds of going into that forest without really knowing the way, and finding the people we were searching for. To my great happiness, my cousin Berl was at the camp. It was an emotional reunion. The elation I felt at having a relative who had survived was immense. The Bielskis accepted us straight away. That was the strength of their group - any Jew was welcome. They also knew the forest very well and had a resolute determination to survive. Pesach and I did not have any weapons so we were in the non-combative part of the group, which meant we worked in the Bielski camp - we had a mill, a shoe workshop, a bakery and much more. My job was to make nails out of wire. Others would go out to rob food from farms. The combat group fought the enemy and committed acts of sabotage - blowing up bridges and cutting down telegraph poles. Over six months in 1944, the Bielski fighters delayed German trains for a total of 51 hours - a great achievement.
"It was something I felt very proud about. I was honoured to be part of the group. We did not let ourselves be herded up. We fought the Nazis all the way and so we survived. But there was still a constant air of sadness. Everyone had experienced great loss. I would think about my family all the time. It was so hard to come to terms with what had happened.
"We stayed in the forest until Poland's liberation in July 1944. The SS tried to escape through the forest and there was a large battle between us and them. Nine of our members were killed, but all the Germans were killed.
"The nightmare was over, but as we headed back to our home town of Novogrodok we knew what we would find there. The town was destroyed, everyone I had known before the war was gone. There was no joy left in that place. Although we were free, no-one celebrated - there was just a very sombre mood.
"I couldn't stay in Novogrodok. I came to England in 1947, met and married my wife, with whom I had three children. I now have 10 grandchildren. But I can never forget the past.
"I am very proud to have been one of the partisans. We rebelled and remained alive in defiance of the Nazis. To me the Bielski brothers are among the greatest Jewish heroes - because of them, 1,230 Jews
survived."
"It was that day that we realised that the Germans would let no-one remain alive - so we began to make plans for our escape. We said we would rather hang ourselves than fall into the Germans' hands.