KLUGER FAMILY

The Teichman family, Bernard (b. 1869), his wife Sara, and their daughter Fryda (b. 1902) moved to Oswiecim in 1899 from Lvov, and as of 1910 lived at 52 Zatorska Street in the Saul Hutterer house. Bernard Teichman sold fabric as a peddler in Oswiecim, and ran a second-hand clothes store in Bytom. It is believed that in.1923 Fryda Teichman married Symcha Kluger (b. 1900) and, in 1931 the couple moved into the house on Zatorska Street.
The Klugers had 9 children: Moses (b. 1923), Szymon (b. 1925), Bronia (1927-2007), Icchak (b. 1929), Melech (b. 1931), Izrael (b. 1933), Jehoszua (b. 1935), Chaim (b. 1936), and Malka (b. 1938).
The family owned a hen store in Oswiecim, and Symcha Kluger became a melamed (religious teacher), who was famous for his religious commentaries, which he delivered each Sabbath afternoon in the threshold of Oswiecim’s Great Synagogue. The Kluger Family prayed near their residence in the so-called Chrzanover Shtibl (house of worship of Chrzanów Hassidim).
According to the testimonies of Moses Kluger – Symcha’s son, his father was a 9th generation descendant of a famous rabbi born in Volhynia named David ben Samuel ha-Levi Segal (c. 1586-1667), who was thought to be an author of Turei Zahav (Hebrew: Rows of Gold), an essential commentary on the Shulhan Aruk.

During the Holocaust Symcha, Fryda and 6 of their children perished, leaving only Szymon, Moses and Bronia as survivors.
After World War II, Bronia and Moses emigrated to the United States, while Szymon settled in Sweden, where he worked until 1961. That year, Szymon became the first of his family to return to Oswiecim, where he worked for a chemical factory.
For many years Szymon, known as the last Jew of Oswiecim, lived alone in his family residence, surviving on government aid and help from his siblings. He could also count on the support of a small group of his friends from Oswiecim.
Szymon Kluger died on May 26, 2000 and is buried in Oswiecim’s Jewish cemetery. Of the siblings, only Moses is still alive today. He lives in New York.