Leona Kleiner [Annotator's Note: born Leona Rubenetzka; unsure of spelling of maiden name] Kleiner was born in Nowe Miasto, Poland. She came from a large family and had a beautiful childhood. She was 14 and a half when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. The Germans arrived in her town quickly since it was near the border. The German abuse and killings of the local population began immediately. Ten young boys were picked for execution in front of the townspeople. The locals were numbed by the experience. They did not know what to do. The tragedies started. Kleiner was the youngest of her siblings except for her younger brother. Everyone had to stay in the house and not leave by German mandate. They were frightened. It went on for weeks until they heard that a ghetto would be established within a few blocks. A wall surrounded the area. People from nearby smaller towns were brought into the ghetto. No one could leave the ghetto. People were hungry, crowded and sick. Kleiner's father died during that time in the ghetto. An announcement was made that the ghetto would be evacuated. Kleiner's mother gathered some of their goods in pillow cases to carry with them. The people were moved by truck to the railroad. They were jammed into cattle trains. There was no room for Kleiner and her family in the cattle cars. Nevertheless, they were forced onboard for a three day journey to an unknown destination. They finally arrived at Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland].

Leona Kleiner arrived at Auschwitz [Annotator's Note: Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp complex in German occupied Oswiecim, Poland] in the middle of the night around one in the morning. [Annotator's Note: Kleiner spent three years in Auschwitz and was evacuated in January 1945. Her entry into the death camp was likely around November 1941.] The crowded railcar had hungry and dead people that fell out when the doors were opened. One of Kleiner's first observations was the flaming chimneys with smoke bellowing out of them. The pollution choked the new arrivals. The SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] men with their German Shepard dogs were there to herd the new arrivals. There were also young boys in uniforms there who worked in the crematoria. Kleiner and the others were told that the smoke from the chimneys was from bread being baked. They believed what they were being told. The passengers were lined up for the selection process by Dr. Mengele [Annotator's Note: SS-Hauptsturmführer, or Captain, Dr. Josef Mengele]. People were forced to go either to the left or right despite not knowing the significance of that. As people were taken away, there was much consternation. Kleiner and her group were taken to a tremendous room with long tables. They were forced to undress and their hair was shaved and a tattoo given to them with specific numbers. Her sisters had sequential numbers with her. She hardly recognized her sisters and mother with their heads shaved. They felt like animals. They were given uniforms and wooden shoes and nothing else. Forced to line up outside, they walked a long way to a gate with a sign saying "arbeit macht frei" meaning "work makes you free." In front of the gate was a prisoner orchestra playing. Inside the gates was a large place with red barracks and constantly burning chimneys. Many people were in each barracks. They slept on bunks with only a filthy navy blanket full of lice. There was no bathroom, light or heat in the barracks. The only available light at night was from the burning chimneys outside. The new inmates were very frightened not knowing their future. Very early the next morning, the prisoners were taken out of the barracks and lined up. Kleiner and her two sisters had strangers between them. As the Gestapo [Annotator's Note: German Geheime Staatspolizei or Secret State Police; abbreviated Gestapo] went along the gathered inmates, they selected the women between the Kleiner sisters. It was a dark November morning and terribly cold. The inmates were forced to walk out of the camp with those selected put on trucks. Kleiner did not know where the trucks went. Those who walked out of the camp were frightened by their guards. The prisoners did not know how to please their overseers. They did useless work until late and then were walked back into camp. Again, they were lined up for a selection process after determining that all inmates were accounted for. If anyone attempted an escape or someone was missing, the inmates stayed in line until the missing were found. When they were found, they were executed in front of the group. Food was sparse with little of substance in the plain water soup. When bread was issued, some tried to save it but it could be stolen. People had turned into animals. The SS women had German Shepard dogs. One bit Kleiner. With nothing to treat the wound, Kleiner's sister managed to trade for margarine to salve the injury. It was hard for the three years she was there. When people from the train entered the camp, many were walked to their execution at the crematoria. Few of Kleiner's relatives survived. The Germans would take babies from the mother's arms who were about to be killed and throw them in the fires. There was too much expense to gas babies. The mothers screamed and the babies cried. It was unbelievably hard. When the people arrived at the gas chambers, they were deceived that they would be taking showers. The room they entered had doors that were closed but instead of water, gas came from the shower heads. There was yelling and screaming until it got quite. The doors were opened and the boys working in the Sonderkommando [Annotator's Note: individuals used by their German overseers to do the work of the elimination of the remains of those executed] entered and removed the bodies to be taken to the crematorium. The boys recognized relatives as they did their work. The flames and smoke never stopped. The executions continued constantly.

Leona Kleiner reflects on the individuals who survived [Annotator's Note: Kleiner spent over three years in the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland]. Selected inmates had to go to work every day. It was cold outside while they worked and lived in the camp. Without her sisters, Kleiner would not have survived. One sister was clever and strong. That sister helped Kleiner survive a dog bite on her leg. Inhabitants in the camp had to suck water from the pipes to quench their thirst. One of Kleiner's sisters started collecting and saving water. Kleiner's sister traded the water she had collected in order to get margarine to put on Kleiner's wound to help it heal. Kleiner does not know how they survived, but they did. Even today, Kleiner gets up in the middle of the night sometimes and wonders how she made it through. Kleiner and her sisters took care of each other. They were scared not knowing if they would survive the selection process. Kleiner remembers the three day train ride before arriving at Auschwitz in the middle of the night. Immediately after arriving, the selection process was established. There were two lines for the new arrivals. Left went to the gas chambers and right went to work in the camp. Kleiner's typical work day was just digging in the fields. It was meaningless work. They were just digging in order to torture them. The Germans had no compassion toward the Jews. The guards had no heart. Kleiner saw the people walking to the gas chambers, but she did not see inside the gas chambers. Kleiner's barracks had no water, no food, and no bath. The inmates only had the bunks and a navy blanket.

Leona Kleiner views her liberation as the best thing in her life except for her family. [Annotator's Note: Kleiner left the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland in January 1945 and was liberated in Germany in May 1945.] Her evacuation from the camp was in January when it was wintery cold outside. It was freezing and dark as they heard shots from far away. The Russians were getting close to Auschwitz, and the Germans opened the gates to evacuate the working people. The captives traveled on an open train, not knowing where they were going. The train ride lasted a week. When they reached their destination, the Germans made them get off and march with them. They marched from January until May [Annotator's Note: May 1945]. Kleiner saw the Germans throwing away all their weapons at the end of the march. The German guards ran away. Kleiner and the others ran in a different direction from their former captors and made it into a forest. Kleiner and her sisters were told to stay out of the forest. They found a stable to hide in. The next morning Kleiner and the others were found by the Russians. They were marching again but with the Russians this time. Kleiner and the others ran again and found themselves in another forested area. There, they found thousands of other survivors. When they emerged from the forest, they saw tanks. The prisoners played musical instruments after the Germans were gone and ran into the roads towards the tanks. As the tanks got closer, they discovered these soldiers were American. Kleiner and the others started to walk with the Americans. The Americans told them to walk toward a town because they would be taken care of. Kleiner and her sisters met some boys, and they all walked together through the fields to get to the town. The boys were killed by mines on the way to the town. The town was Schwerin, Germany. Kleiner and the others were told they could pick an empty house and live in it. Kleiner and her sisters were afraid to go in the houses and instead found a bombed out truck where they lived for six weeks. The American soldiers came over every day and gave Kleiner and her sisters bread, coffee, chocolate, and cigarettes. Kleiner says the soldiers called her a baby since she was the youngest of the sisters. One soldier got her a bicycle and offered to adopt her and take her to the United States. Kleiner says she refused the offer because she did not want to be separated from her sisters. The MP [Annotator's Note: military police] came over and told Kleiner and her sisters they could not live in the truck. They had to move into one of the apartments in the DP [Annotator's Note: displaced person or refugee from the war] camp.

There were three of them [Annotator's Note: Leona Kleiner is talking about herself and her two sisters attempting to find lodging after being liberated from the Germans in May 1945]. There was a gentleman from the forest who came over and said they should not live in the forest. The gentleman came and lived with her and her sisters. He eventually became her brother-in-law. He married her older sister and the four of them lived together. They had a kitchen and a bedroom. They stayed in that DP [Annotator's Note: displaced persons or war refugees] camp. Kleiner's sister asked her to take her boots to the shoemaker to have them fixed. Kleiner walked to the shoemaker. On the way home, she took the bus. She met a man on the bus. The man asked to walk her home. Kleiner discovered he lived in the same DP camp. He lived in the same building as her. She dated him for one year and then they were married. They wanted to move to the States [Annotator's Note: the United States]. Kleiner had three uncles in the States. Her husband's mother survived. She was 47 years old. She survived with a daughter and Kleiner's husband. Kleiner's mother-in-law had a cousin in the States who was going to send papers for them to go to America. They waited for four years in Germany for the papers to come from the States. When they got to the States, they did not know where to go. Kleiner's mother had cousins in the States who helped take care of them. They came to the United States by boat. The name of the boat was General Sturgis [Annotator's Note: USS General S. D. Sturgis (AP-137)]. They were supposed to go to New York [Annotator's Note: New York, New York], but they ended up in Boston [Annotator's Note: Boston, Massachusetts]. Other people went to Ellis Island [Annotator's Note: main immigrant entry point into New York, New York]. They did not know what to do when they got there. They got an apartment in Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. It was Kleiner, her husband, her mother-in-law, an uncle and his wife and a little boy, along with another couple living together in a two-room apartment. The Americans were kind. They kept knocking on the door to help the refugees. The apartment was very crowded. They had to look for jobs. Kleiner and her husband found jobs in the same factory. Her mother-in-law stayed at home and took care of the shopping and cooking. They went to work every day. The factory was in Manhattan [Annotator's Note: Manhattan is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. The train and the city were crowded. One morning, she got pushed into the train because it was so crowded. Kleiner and her husband were each working for 18 dollars a week. After work they went back to Brooklyn. Her mother-in-law always had the meals ready for them. Every Friday they stopped at the bank after work. They put 18 dollars in the savings and took 18 dollars home. Eventually, Kleiner's husband got a job as a watch maker. When Kleiner got pregnant, she could no longer go to work in the factory. Her husband became the sole provider. When he worked for the watch maker, he brought home 40 dollars per week. When she got pregnant, they had to move from the crowded apartment into a furnished room. They moved in with an old lady. The old lady took care of them. She made dinner for them. They eventually found an apartment. They had one bedroom, a tiny kitchen, and a bathroom. Her husband went to work every day while she stayed home. She gave birth to a daughter first. She was happy and did not want anything else. A year later she gave birth to a son. Her daughter is a doctor and has five children. Three of the children are married. Kleiner has two great-grandchildren. From her son's side she has a granddaughter and grandson. She has seven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She never thought she would make it to 85 years old and four generations.

Leona Kleiner reflects on her liberation. The American soldiers were kind to them and took care of them. She was in the DP camp [Annotator's Note: displaced persons or war refugees] camp for four years from 1945 to 1949. The soldiers took care of everything. God bless America. The soldiers and the other people always asked her how she survived. She does not have the answer. When the Germans shaved their heads and tattooed their arms, they gave them uniforms [Annotator's Note: this was done upon her entry into the Auschwitz concentration camp in Oswiecim, Poland]. The uniforms had a number on the left breast. Kleiner's number was 25721. In the ghetto they had yellow arm bands. The arm bands said Jude, Jew. For three years, they were only called the numbers. By the time they were liberated, they did not know their names. They did not know the dates while in Auschwitz. The chimneys were always going. The air was polluted. She did not see animals, except for the German shepherds. There was no grass. It was very polluted. The Germans made shades for the lamps from the skins [Annotator's Note: the skin of Jews who had been murdered]. They knew the dates when they marched with the Germans. They did not have a way to keep track of the dates when they were in Auschwitz. They did not know when the holidays were. They would wish they were birds to get out of the camp. The women's and men's camps were only separated by an electric wire. One day, the girls had to get undressed and run through the camp. They had to run like animals completely naked. It was entertainment for the Nazis. The boys stood on the other side of the fence and watched. Kleiner learned that she took life for granted. They never thought something like this could happen. The Germans tortured and murdered innocent people. Even newborn babies did not escape. The Holocaust should not be forgotten. One of her sisters lives in Long Island [Annotator's Note: Long Island, New York]. Her other sister could not wait to go to the States [Annotator's Note: the United States]. Her older sister went to Israel. The other sister went to Brooklyn [Annotator's Note: Brooklyn is one of the five boroughs in New York, New York]. Israel was known as Palestine then. Her sister that went to Palestine was in the Army. She and her husband were in many wars. She lived in Israel until she passed away. Her sister went to Israel because her brother-in-law could not wait four years to get out of Germany. He wanted to leave Germany as soon as possible. They were supposed to go to the States together. Kleiner and her husband stayed in Germany because they did not want to separate from her mother-in-law. The separation from her sister was difficult after all the prior years they had spent together.