• Age: 14 to 18
• Grade: 9 to 12

An idealist and a dreamer, young Icchok Klein writes poetry in the Lodz ghetto, a talent that leads to him to be rescued by a tight inner circle, where he comes under the protective wing of the chairman of the Council of Elders, Mordechai Rumkowski. In a flash, Icchok’s life takes a decidedly different path, giving him a birds-eye view of a house of privilege and a polarizing, controversial figure. But in August 1944, Icchok’s fate spirals when he is among those transported from the ghetto and he is forced to face, alone, each precarious moment.

Eddie (Icchok) Klein was born in Sieradz, Poland, in 1927. He immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1945, where he was drafted into the military, working for the Palmach and later the Air Force, doing mechanical repairs. Eddie married his wife, Miriam, in Tel Aviv in 1955; they immigrated to Canada in 1956, settling in Montreal, where Eddie still lives.

Eddie Klein's profile page