Michal Klein
* 1937 †︎ 2021
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That's a little bit of a story, I'll be proud of that. It's like this. Father of my future wife was in Spain. There he met, He came from Kráľovský Chlmec, nearby Kráľovský Chlmec, here is a village, they came from there. And when those events were in Spain, so he took part in fighting and there he met his future wife, my future mother in law. And in the 46th year, when the fighting stopped, he and his wife returned, even then my wife was already in the world, because she was born in the 42nd in Barcelona. They came here to stay, where the poor father-in-law lived before he left. It's called Bôľ, it's close to Kráľovský Chlmec and then they moved to Košice. Well.
And she is called, or she was called, when she was single?
She was called, unfortunately just called, her name was Klára Štrausová.
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But then Mrs Hanzlíková took me to her home, and when she found out what had happened with my grandparents, she took it as a done deal that I would definitely be a member of her family. I mentioned, my mother before that, I don't know which way, but she found out that her parents were taken, but I survived, I'm hidden.I don't know how, through whom she found out, but my mother declared in Mikuláš at that time, that her life made no sense without me, and therefore, despite these turbulent events and circumstances, she decided to look for me in Piešťany, where she found out the address of the Hanzlík family, where I was hidden. It's a little weird there, because I was prepared, that I became an orphan. It's incomprehensible, but I met my mom.
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I was in Piešťany, there they started to prepare me as a person who will already be a permanent member of their family and Mrs. Hanzlíková started to prepare me as well. Also they were talking about me, that i would be baptized again and I would live with them.
However, then the events developed a little differently, I have to focus on my mother, who her friend and others, sought their refuge in Liptovský Mikuláš, in Palubská at the time. Before that, they were in the mountains and from there they fell back to the Palubská where her mother had an acquaintance who supplied them and helped them.
Can you say the name of her acquaintance?
She was mother's classmate, Mrs. Vilma Erntálová, later married to Mr. Hron, so Hron, Hronová.
During this period, I don't know, I don't remember anymore, I was about six or seven years old, but my mother found out that I was hidden, but my grandparents were not hiding, they took them to the concentration camp. I say that I was born there for the third time, the first time when I was born, the second time when I was like a toddler, I had a problem to have my life saved. I had some health problems. It was my second birth when I recovered. And my third birth I survived in Piešťany.
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Kino Úsmev, 16.07.2020
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Mom’s life without me made no sense
Michal Klein was born on December 6, 1937 into a pious Jewish family. He lost his father when he was eighteen years old. He lived with his mother in Strážky.
He knew anti-Semitism as a young child. When he was six years old, he went on vacation to his grandparents who were called Rotter’s, whose property had already been aryanized and they had moved from Bratislava to Piešťany. The mother was hiding with her friend in the surroundings of the Tatras.
The Hanzlík family took care of Michal. There were occasional visits, at least once a week for good preparation. During the last visit, in the fateful evening, he fell asleep at the Hanzlík family, so he did not return back to his grandparents. Later the next day, he found out that his grandparents had been taken to a concentration camp in the morning. This is how Michal saved his life. Later his mother found out that her son had survived. She chose to look for him because she could not live without him. They hid together in Liptovský Mikuláš until the liberation.
Michal told his story to ensure that the Hanzlík family received the title “Righteous Among the Nations” in the 1990s. Unfortunately, the Hanzlík neighbors were no longer alive.
After the war, they moved to Prague for a while, but due to Michal’s health, they returned to Slovakia.
Michal graduated from the University of Forestry and Wood Technology, today the Technical University in Zvolen. Later he worked in the Czech Republic where he also completed the war.
During his vacation in Košice, he met his future wife, Klára Štrausová. They lived together in Czech republic for a while, then in 1967 they returned to Slovakia, to Košice. Their daughter Eva was born in 1966 and their son Julián in 1972.
Michal has never been politically active. He was not persecuted during communism, as he says - he was an ordinary clerk.
He was currently in discussions with students, he talked about what he had experienced.
However, due to his age, he decided to slow down.
