Klein, Kurt (32554510)

Kurt Klein
Personal details
Born	1920
Died	2002
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	32554510
Rank	Private
Camp Ritchie	Class 5 (8 February – 9 April 1943)
Section	9
Enlisted	Buffalo, New York
Specialty	Military intelligence
Unit / division	5th Infantry Division
Team	IPW 3

Teammates

Team — IPW 3

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Kurt Klein (died 2002) was a German-born refugee from Walldorf and a military intelligence soldier with the 5th Infantry Division. After returning to Germany in American uniform, he met and later married Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann.

Biography

Kurt Klein grew up in Walldorf, Germany, in a Jewish family threatened by the Nazi regime. In 1937 he left for the United States alone. Like many young refugees, he had to establish himself in a new country while trying to help family members still trapped in Europe.

Klein entered the U.S. Army and was selected for military intelligence training at Camp Ritchie. His native German, knowledge of German customs, and experience as a refugee were transformed into military skills. He was assigned to the intelligence section of the 5th Infantry Division for its campaign into Germany.

With the division, Klein questioned Germans and interpreted the people, documents, and circumstances encountered by the advancing American forces. His wartime journey carried him back into the country he had escaped, now as a member of the U.S. Army helping defeat the regime that had persecuted his family.

Near the end of the war Klein met Gerda Weissmann, a Jewish survivor of Nazi camps and a death march, shortly after her liberation. Their meeting became the beginning of a lasting partnership, and they married after the war. Together they devoted substantial effort to Holocaust education and to telling the story of persecution, survival, liberation, and renewal.

Gerda's wartime experience and liberation were later presented in the Academy Award-winning documentary One Survivor Remembers, in which Klein's role in her liberation story was preserved for a wide audience. Kurt Klein died in April 2002 while on a lecture tour in Guatemala.

See the full story.

Research notes

• To 2nd Lt About Face

Gallery

• 
  Kurt Klein on a mountaintop near Oberammergau, Bavaria, in 1933 Kurt Klein
• 

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	82
Nara ASN	32554510
Nara Name	KLEIN KURT
Nara State	23
Nara County	29
Nara POE	2309
Nara DOE	281042
Nara Grade Alpha	PVT
Nara Grade Code	8
Nara Branch Alpha	BI
Nara Branch Code	0
Branch	Branch Immaterial - Warrant Officers, USA
Nara Term or Enlistment	5
Term of enlistment	Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
Defer. Date	0
Nara Source	0
Nara Nativity	N1
Nara Year of Birth	20
Nara Race	J
Nara Race Description	White not yet a citizen
Nara Education	4
Nara Civilian Occupation	444
Nara Marital Status	6
Nara Height (inches)	66
Nara Weight (lbs)	128
Class_ASN	32554510
Class_Name	KLEIN, Kurt
match_method	asn_exact_name_exact
row_source	both

Timeline

• Born 6 July 1920.
• October 1943 — Became member of IPW Team 3 assigned to the 2nd Infantry.
• 9 July 1944 — Landed at Utah Beach with 5th Infantry Division.
• They married in Paris on September 1945.
• of which was Gerda Weissmann who he married in 1946.
• Became naturalized U.
• Regiment of the 5th Infantry Division.

Sources

• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• The Stories essay