The
Author, Josef Rosin, About Himself
I am a
native of Kybartai (Lithuania). I was born on January 24, 1922 to Hayah
(nee
Leibovitz) from Marijampole and Yehudah Leib Rosin from Sudargas
(Lithuania).
They were the owners of a paper and stationary shop in Kibart (the
Yiddish name
of the town).
I
received my elementary and high school education in Kibart, Virbalis
and
Marijampole. During the years 1939 to 1941 I was a student at the Civil
Engineering Faculty of the Kovno (Kaunas) University.
I left
my home for the last time on Friday, June 20, 1941, just two days
before the
German invasion into the USSR began. My
parents and my sister stayed in Kibart and were
murdered together with all the Jews of the town in July of the same
year. I was
in the Kovno Ghetto for more than two and a half years until the
beginning of
February 1944 when I escaped into the woods (first into the Rudniki
forests and
later into the Naliboki forests in
Belarus). I
remained there until the liberation by the Red Army. In August 1944 I
returned
to Kovno. At the end of March 1945, I joined a group of young
Lithuanian Jews
who determined that we should leave Europe and make our way to Eretz
Yisrael; we became part of
the movement that became known as
the "Brikhah" (Flight) movement. I left Lithuania and after the
tribulations
of the illegal travel through Poland, Slovakia, Rumania, Hungary,
Austria and
Italy, I arrived in Eretz Yisrael
on October 24, 1945 on a ship of "Ma'apilim" (Illegal Immigrants). During the stay in Rumania I married
Peninah (nee
Cypkewitz) from Wloclawek, who had made a similarly difficult journey
from
Poland.
We lived in Kibbutz Beth-Zera
in the Jordan Valley for nine
months. In the autumn of 1946
we
left the
Kibbutz
and moved to
Haifa, with
the aim of continuing my studies at the Civil Engineering Faculty of
the
Technion. I was accepted in the second course (as a second year
student) and
after a further year delay because of the War of Independence; I
completed my
studies in 1950 with the degree of Engineer. In 1958 I received my
M.Sc. in
Agricultural Engineering from the Technion, the Israel Institute of
Technology
in Haifa.
During
the War of Independence I served in the Air Force in the Aerial
Photography
Unit and was discharged with the rank of Staff Sergeant. I served in
the Army
Reserves until the age of 54.
During
the years 1950-1952 I worked at the Water Department of the Ministry of
Agriculture and with the establishment of "Water Planning for Israel"
(Tahal), I joined this firm, where I worked until my retirement on the
first of
April 1987. For more than twenty years I held the position of Head of
the
Drainage and Development Department of that firm.
In
1989, I published my "Memoirs" in Hebrew and in 1994 in English.
During
the years 1987 through 1994 I wrote many entries for the Hebrew book Encyclopedia
of the Jewish Communities in Lithuania (Pinkas Hakehilot-Lita) and participated in publishing this book as
the
Assistant Editor. This book was published by Yad Vashem in 1996, edited
by Dov
Levin.
In
2001 and 2002 I acted as the assistant editor for the publication of
the Memorial
Book of the Jewish Community of Yurburg, Lithuania-Translation and
Update.
Most
recently I wrote two books on the history of 52 Lithuanian Jewish
communities, Preserving
Our Litvak Heritage, Volumes I and II, published by JewishGen in
2005 and
2007, respectively.
I live
in Haifa, Israel and have a
married son and a married daughter and four grandchildren.