Concentration camp uniform jacket worn by a Polish Jewish inmate in several camps

Bernard Klajminc was born on November 30, 1901, in Lagow, Poland, to Herzl and Miriam Milbergow Klajminc. He had a brother, Tzvi Hersch, who immigrated to Canada in 1924 with his wife, Annie, and their children. Bernard married Bertha (Bajla) Horenkrig, who was born on August 27, 1905, in Warsaw. The couple lived in Brussels, Belgium. Bernard was a tailor. They had a daughter, Marie-Jose, on December 29, 1928, and a son, Henri, on October 2, 1932.

On May 10, 1940, Germany invaded Belgium. The German authorities immediately began instituting anti-Jewish legislation. They confiscated Jewish property and many Jews were assigned to forced labor. German authorities began large scale deportations of Jews in August 1942. On August 30, 1942, Bernard was arrested in Brussels. On September 3, he was deported to Pithiviers internment camp in France. His wife and children were also arrested and deported to France. On September 15, Bernard was transferred to Drancy transit camp in Paris and on September 18, was deported to Tarnowitz, Poland (Tarnowskie Gory). He remained in Tarnowitz as a forced laborer until May 1943, when he was sent as a forced laborer to Schopenitz, Poland (Szopienice). In November 1943, Bernard was sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp for processing. After three weeks, he was selected as a forced laborer for Warsaw concentration camp. The Germans had destroyed the Warsaw ghetto following the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and most of the forced laborers worked to demolish the remnants. On August 6, 1944, Bernard was transferred to Dachau and assigned prisoner number 88281. On August 13, he was sent to Mühldorf (Muehldorf), a subcamp of Dachau. From February 12 to 18, 1945, Bernard was in the sick block at Muehldorf. On April 29, 1945, Bernard was liberated by the US Army.

In May 1945, Bernard was moved to Feldkirchen displaced persons camp outside of Munich. He repatriated to Belgium on June 20, 1945. He learned that his children Marie-Jose and Henri had been removed from Drancy transit camp by Union Generale Des Israelites De France and placed in the Guy-Patin children’s home in Paris. They were deported to Auschwitz on transport 47 on February 11, 1943 and were killed upon arrival on February 13. In September 1942, Bertha was deported under a false name and perished. Bernard later changed his last name to Klayminc. He died in Brussels in the mid-1970’s.