Klaus Stern

1921-2013

“I was taken with my wife the 19th of April 1943 with a group of about 1000 people. As soon as I arrived in Auschwitz, I received a tattoo on my left front arm, with the number 117033.” – Klaus Stern

With the rise of the Nazi party, Klaus began to feel increasingly ostracized, even among his childhood friends. In 1942, at the age of 20, Klaus married Paula Schaul. They agreed that if they were separated, they would meet in Paula’s hometown, Arnstadt, Germany after the war.

On the 19th of April 1943, both Klaus and Paula were deported to Auschwitz. Upon their arrival, they were separated and would remain so for the next 25 months – unable to send word to one another or confirm that the other was still alive. Klaus survived Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Flossenburg, Leonberg and Mühldorf. He was liberated in May 1945 by American troops.

After regaining some of his strength in an Allied hospital after liberation, Klaus began the process of searching for his wife. He wrote her a note and sent it with several soldiers going in the direction of Paula’s hometown. Klaus traveled for 3 and a half weeks through war-ravaged Europe to finally reunite with his wife. They immigrated to the United States the next year and became the first Holocaust survivors to settle in Seattle, where they raised their two children. Klaus passed away in 2013.

Video Testimony – Klaus Stern

My Best Friend

New Identification Card

Trying to Contact Paula

Tattoo

Full Testimony (1992)

Photo Gallery – Klaus Stern

K. Stern Gallery 1

Klaus, two years old, with his mother Heddy. Berlin, Germany 1923.

K. Stern Gallery 2

Klaus as a young boy with his schultute, a cardboard cone filled with sweets given to students by their families.

K. Stern Gallery 3

Klaus and Paula on the farm in Neuendorf, Germany on the day they got engaged. July 5, 1942. Paula's friend kept this photograph during the war and returned it to her in 1945.