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Oral history interview with Edward Klein

Oral History | Digitized | Accession Number: 2010.183 | RG Number: RG-50.030.0580

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    Oral history interview with Edward Klein

    Overview

    Interview Summary
    Edward Klein (né Isaac Klein), born circa 1926, discusses his childhood in Sieradz, Poland; having two older brothers who were partisans in Poland; his father’s merchant business; speaking Yiddish and Polish at home; being forced to move with his family to the Łódź Ghetto in March 1940; settling into life in the ghetto; his father’s work digging for potatoes; his job of sewing leather; befriending residents of the Łódź Ghetto orphanage; his father’s death in the ghetto; searching for his father’s remains later in life; difficulties in finding his birth certificate and exact date of birth; studying poetry; being beaten by a policeman for bringing bread to his mother; his mother’s deportation from the ghetto; the Culture House in the Łódź ghetto; his memory of Bolek Jakubowicz who was in charge of distributing apartments in the ghetto; being placed in Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski’s house, which was divided into four apartments; being given clothes and access to food; Dr. Rabiner Berliner who became his instructor in logic, math, and German; living in Rumkowski’s apartment; the privileged circle of ghetto officials with whom he lived; the various people who came through Rumkowski’s household; rumors that the Germans were planning on leaving the Łódź ghetto; the “ranks” and strata in the ghetto; orphanages and schools in the Łódź ghetto and Rumkowski’s role in them; people’s opinions of Rumkowski; wanting to be deported to Auschwitz with his friends; how a Gestapo informant, Gertler, was not only aware of what would happen in the ghetto, but was also a perpetrator; relationships ghetto officials had with Germans; final deportations in 1944 from the Łódź ghetto; his deportation to Auschwitz; how Rumkowski arrived at Auschwitz one week later; being sent to Mauthausen; German SS guards at Mauthausen; being chosen to peel potatoes; being told by a guard that he would not die, but would work for the Reich after the war; a German guard who wanted sexual favors from him; prisoners from Theresienstadt; Dina Gottliebova Babbitt, an Auschwitz inmate who did portrait drawings for Dr. Mengele; the Terezin family camp; being given a diamond by another prisoner; providing food and clothing to other prisoners in the camp; falling in love with a Polish woman who worked in a factory; being given special attention by SS guards; needing medical attention while in Mauthausen; how an SS guard operated on him; how another inmate tried to kill him in Mauthausen; an attack on Mauthausen; leaving Mauthausen and eating grass to survive; spending time in a hospital in Austria after liberation; and living in Montreal, Canada.
    Interviewee
    Edward Klein
    Interviewer
    Mr. Jacek Nowakowski
    Date
    interview:  2010 August 16

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Extent
    3 digital files : WAV.

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    There are no known restrictions on access to this material.
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Branch conducted the interview with Edward Klein on August 16, 2010. The interview was received by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives Branch in August 2010.
    Record last modified:
    2023-11-16 08:03:41
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn41724

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