Edith Stein papers

Edith Stein was born Edith Grunwald on 22 December 1935 in Antwerp, Belgium to Golde and Bernat Grunwald. Her parents married in 1934 in Antwerp. Her mother Golde (1904-1984) was born Golde Wachtenhein on 30 November 1904 in Volové, Czechoslovakia (Mizhhirya, Ukraine). Her father Bernat Grunwald (1904-1975) was born on 30 May 1904 in Bardejov (Slovakia) and worked as a tailor. Edith had one sister, Gisela Grunwald, who was born on 2 April 1938 in Antwerp.

In May 1940 Germany invaded and occupied Belgium. The family fled Antwerp for France with Edith’s uncle Max Scheiner and his family in his bakery delivery truck. The family remained in hiding for approximately two years. They reunited with her uncle’s family in Nice and on 13 November 1942 they fled to a refugee camp in Altstätten, Switzerland. Edith and Gisela were sent to separately live with foster families in Gossau, Switzerland. Edith lived with a Protestant family, the Brassels, until liberation.

After the war, the family returned to Antwerp. In 1951 they immigrated to the United States with assistance from Bernat’s brother Barney Grunwald and family cousin Mickey Singer. Her parents worked at a dry cleaner in Brooklyn and Bernat continued to also work as a tailor. Edith married Bernard Stein in 1955, and they had two children.