"Eddie Klein: A Rescued Life"

Edward Klein was born Ajzyk (Isaak) Klein born ca. 1926 in Sieradz, Poland. His parents, Shmuel and Helen, had three sons: Chaim, Kalman, and Ajzyk. After the German invasion, Ajzyk and his parents escaped to Warsaw, where they survived German aerial bombing of the city. They continued to flee, finally reaching Łódź. Chaim and Kalman, who had escaped to the Russian-occupied area of Poland, joined a partisan unit, and both were killed in action during the war. In 1942, Shmuel died of starvation in the ghetto; Helen was deported soon thereafter. Ajzyk was taken to live with Dora Fuchs, head of the ghetto secretariat, in the apartments where Rumkowski and ghetto leadership lived, as part of a program to have managers of the ghetto care for newly orphaned children. He was educated and given increased food rations. In August 1944, he was deported to Auschwitz on the second-to-last train to leave Łódź. He was given a job as a messenger, where he met and befriended Dina Babbitt. In the fall, he was transferred to Sosnowiec, where he trained to work as a messenger and experienced much better living conditions. When the Russian Army approached, he traveled with the SS towards Gleiwitz, but was then marched on foot to Mauthausen and from there, to Gunskirchen. After liberation, he made his way to Bari, Italy, where he boarded the Catalina and emigrated to Palestine in the summer of 1945. He fought in the War of Independence and taught agro-mechanics. He also married a fellow survivor named Miriam, originally from Izbice, who was the only survivor of her family. The emigrated to Montreal in 1956, where he opened a plastics factory. They had two children, Mark and Vivian. Miriam passed away in 1972. Edward Klein lives in Montreal.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Edward Klein

Edward Klein donated a copy of his memoir to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in December 2014.