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My Kindertransport Through Life
Walter Klein

Hugo & Gretel
Parents, Gretel & Hugo Klein

Testimony written in 2006

I was born on November 10th, 1935 in Bad Neustadt on the Salle,Germany, My parents were Hugo and Gretel Heinemann Klein.
I am now 71 years old, and I have four siblings, Siegbert now 83 living in New Jersey, Ludwig deceased, Kathe "Kay Fyne" 81, living in Liverpool, England and Hanna Schwarz 80, living in Everett, Washington. I was born at home in a rented house where my father made and sold Leather goods and clothing. I remember playing and sliding down the cellar door with my dog Nellie, and a parade outside. I was told to stay inside and not to look out of the window. It was a "Nazi" parade!
In August 1939 our parents took us to Frankfurt and placed us on a kinder transport train going to England never to see us again.

Walter 1939
Walter 1939


In early 1938 a group of British citizens had asked their government for permission to let children from Germany and other occupied countries to come to England. The Germans agreed to let 10,000 children leave, but without their parents. This became known as the Kindertransport " Kinder" meaning children. There were chaperons on the train who had to agree to return, to Germany, they all did, and most to die in the holocaust. All the children had to have sponsors to guarantee their placement and expenses. Our sponsor was a Maurice Baron a distant cousin who had a cigarette factory in London.
We arrived in England on August 25, 1939, my brothers were 14 and 13, this was just after Ludwig's Bar Mitzvah, and my sisters were 12 and 11. I was three years old and one of the youngest children to leave. I remember being on a train and seeing many ships. I was sent to a nursery school in Bourmouth, on the English Channel. I remember a large room with other children and one day I was in a stroller when the air raid sounded and people running to the air raid shelter. My brothers and sisters went to a boarding school, Stotley Rough in Hazelmere, Surry, about 40 miles southwest of London. After a year, my sisters were able to convince the director of the school to let me join them as long as they took care of me. They tell me how dirty and skinny I looked when I joined them, I had not been taken care of very well.
When I came to Stotley Rough my two brothers had left when they turned 14 to work on farms, which was the only work they were allowed to do because they were German aliens, they also had to register at the local police station. The school was on a hill, an old estate with a large main house, where I lived with other children, a large carriage house where the director lived and other buildings. There were terraces with gardens, tennis courts and playing fields. At the bottom of the hill there was a farm with cows, horses and chickens, and fields with vegetables and fruits, a lovely place. Most of the other children were refugees from the London Blitz bombing, and some of the teachers were refugees from Europe.
Within a year or so my sisters turned 14 and also left to learn Different trades. Every night we all had to go the air raid shelters.
The time went quickly with school, sports, and chores, and lots of Walking and playing with the other children. I was well taken care of, never abused, but never hugged or kissed. The food was Rationed and sparse and the farm supplied a lot of it. As I grew Older I saw many soldiers, tanks and trucks around. One day there Were many planes with gliders and army convoys; it was D-day, June, 6th. 1944. As the war went on, the Germans sent their biggest and most frightening bombs, called a Doodlebug, a very destructive missile, and one day one flew over the school heading right for the village, it did not explode, and at a later time it was erected as a monument. On May 6th, 1945 there was much celebration and joy, V- E Day and peace in Europe. We thought everything would change for the better; it did not happen that fast. Sometime in 1946 my sister Kay came to see me and took me for a walk on the Heath and told me she did not think our parents had survived and that they had died, I did not cry, because I did not know or remember them.
In early 1947 I went to visit Kay in Redhill where she was working in a type of Kibbutz, my other siblings were there also, this was the first time we had all been together since we left Germany in 1939, and we had a great time together. One day in August 1947 my sister Hanna came to the school and said I was going to America with my brothers. I packed the few clothing I had, gave away my toys to the other children and said goodbye to the only home I had known and the fine people who had taken care of me, especially Dr.Lion the director. The next day we went to London and met my brothers, there was paper work and vaccinations, the following day my sister went back to Manchester and we took a taxi to the London docks to board a Liberty ship, the Kolora Victory, a freighter from the war, and we left that night. There were only 10 passengers, all men, I had a great time with all the food and was allowed to roam all over. After 10 stormy days we sailed past the Statue of Liberty to a dock on the Hudson River, it was August 28th l947, I was 11 years old.
I was told that we had two uncles and two aunts, brothers and sisters of my father in New York; they had immigrated in the 1930's. They were all married and some had children and most were there to meet us. As the paper work was being done my brothers told me to go over and meet them, I didn't. I did not know them. When the paper work was finished there was much hugging and kissing for all.
I went to live with my Uncle Leo and Aunt Gustel and their daughter Hannelore. " Laurie" who was a few years older then I. We lived in a five room apartment in the Inwood section of upper Manhattan. My uncle made and sold fur coats in the apartment. The next day we went downtown to Gimbles department store to buy some new shoes and clothing, the ones I had were old and ragged. In early September I started Hebrew school for the first time, my Uncle was the president of the mostly German refugee orthodox synagogue. In September I started public school, and I did well and skipped a few grades. My brother Bob "he changed his name when he became a citizen to Robert" enlisted in the U.S. army. After basic training he was sent to Germany to help with the Berlin Airlift. On leave he went back to Bad Neustadt and met some gentile friends from before the war, and they told him my parents had hidden some things with them telling them someone would be back to look for them. How did they know? In the package was some old silver cutlery, a watch with instructions that it was for my Bar mitzvah and two letters from my parents written just before they were deported. On November 20th_l948 I had my Bar Mitzvah in my uncle's synagogue, I had a great time with a party at home, there were many gifts and a watch from my brother Bob, telling us the story that it was not the same watch that my Father left for me since the original one had deteriorated.

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Walter Klein bottom left, pictured with his mother Gretel Klein, bottom right, his aunt Selma, bottom left, holding him and his sister Hanna, top right

In June 1952 I graduated from junior High and went to food trades vocational High School, I worked hard and joined their apprentice program, as a baker. In the last two years of school I worked in various bakeries and went to school at the same time. On June 24, 1955 I graduated, and that afternoon I caught a bus to Monticello NY to work in the Laurels Hotel as a baker. I worked six month in the hotel and six month in union bakeries in NYC for the next few years.
In April 1961 I had a blind date with a beautiful young lady, Hanna Turkel, born in Albany NY; Her Parents were German refugees who came to the US in 193 9. After dating Hanna during the summer, her parents had a bungalow in White Lake, I proposed to her on September 29th. 1961, we were married on March 25th.1962 and moved to an apartment in upper Manhattan, I worked in a bakery in the city. April 2nd. 1963 our son Howard was born, on July 22nd. 1964 our son Roy arrived, we moved to a house in Flushing Queens by then, our third child a daughter, Sharon, was born on October 22nd. l970. In May 1971 we moved to a house in Liberty NY, I went to work in Katz's bakery where I worked for the next 20 years. During that time my parent's letters were translated into English and copies given to family members, they are very moving and sad to read. My uncles and aunts have passed away over the years and only Cousins remain.
In June 2001 we had a dedication and reunion in Liverpool, England where my sister Kay and her husband Norman, and their three children and great grandchildren live. We dedicated two chairs on the "Bima" in their synagogue in memory to our parents. The following weekend we all traveled to Bad Neustadt, there were 22 Klein's and offspring. I went to the house where I was born, the cellar door was still there, and we visited the towns and Jewish cemeteries in the area. We met a teacher, Gitta Beidermann, who teaches her students about the Holocaust and annually they read the names of the Jews deported in 1942. Gitta told us she was working towards erecting a monument in memory of the deported Jews. The following week I went with my wife to Munich, her parent's hometown, to visit the cemeteries, and explore the city.
In 1998 my wife and I retired. Both our sons are married and we have three Grandchildren, our daughter is a successful career person. We now spend our time between Liberty NY and Delray Beach, Florida. In late October 2006 we were notified that the memorial was completed and the dedication would be on November 8th. 2006, and we were invited to attend the dedication. My sister Hanna and her three daughters and my wife and I arrived on November 6th. The monument was very moving with all the names and ages of the deported Jews. A quote from my mother's last letter is inscribed on the outside. The dedication with the mayor and dignitaries, speeches and somber music was bittersweet and greatly appreciated by us.
On Novemer 10th, Gitta Biedermann invited my sister and I to speak to the seniors at the high school. I told the students that today was my 71 st birthday, and who would have thought that 68 years after I left, I would be back home in Bad Neustadt. They all stood and sang happy birthday to me.
The quote from my mothers letter is "Pray for us, and remember us, tell your children how we were tormented to death." Gretel Klein, March 22nd l942.
My Parents were deported to Itzbeca,Poland on April22nd, 1942, along with 42 other Jews from Bad Neustadt, their final destination unknown at this time. All of the 44 names are inscribed on the monument. In the fall of this year, another monument will be dedicated in Unsleben, the next town to Bad Neustadt, where our grandmother Is buried. The monument is in memory of all the members of the Klein family who perished in the holocaust.
We five Klein siblings are proud to say we have Fifteen (15) children and Nineteen (19) grandchildren. Our Parents would be so proud.
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The Kleins, late 1980s. From left to right:
Siegbert, Ludwig, Kay, Hanna, Walter