Biography
Tamar Klein (born Grosfeld) is the daughter of Abraham and Lifsza (nee Hirszfeld) Grosfeld. She was born on September 1, 1929 in Dabrowa Gornicza, Poland. Her father, Abraham Grosfeld, who was born in 1897, was ordained as a rabbi and a teacher of rabbinic studies. At an early age he abandoned religious practice and became an ardent Zionist. He traveled to Vienna, Austria where he became an apprentice carpenter in preparation for his immigration to Palestine. In 1921 Abraham immigrated to Palestine and settled in Haifa. His fiancée Lifsza Hirszfeld joined him in 1925. When Lifsza became pregnant, she traveled back to Dabrowa Gornicza to give birth in her hometown. Tragically, she died in childbirth, and Lifsza's parents ended up caring for the infant, Tamar. In 1932, when Tamar was three years old, she traveled to Haifa, Palestine accompanied by her maternal aunt, Gucia Hirszfeld. Abraham married Gucia and their son, Dan Grosfeld was born in 1936 in Haifa,. The same year, Tamar and her aunt Lilka went to visit their family in Dabrowa. They spent four months in their hometown and returned to Haifa. All the family members who remained in Poland, perished during the Holocaust.
