Back Together After 77 Years
Tax deductible
Dr. Edgar Klugman grew up Jewish in Nuremberg in the 1920's and 1930's. Despite the anti-semitism he experienced in the world around him, his younger next-door neighbor Hansi and he played together as best friends. To the boys, religion was irrelevant.
But the events of Kristallnacht in November, 1938 tore the boys apart. 13-year-old Ed and his father fled for their lives out of their apartment, which was trashed by Stormtroopers. He never had a chance to say goodbye to Hansi, and he never saw him again.
Ed escaped Germany in August 1939 on the last Kindertransport before war broke out, and eventually made his way to America. In 1945 he served during WWII as an American G.I. and interpreter in Europe.
After the war, Ed spent most of his life as an educator: teaching, lecturing, writing, and thinking about war and peace, conflict and conflict resolution, mediation, genocide, and holocaust.
In 2015, he asked the World War II History Project to find out what had happened to his friend Hansi as a way to help him work along the path of healing. We found Hansi alive and well, and reconnected them on the phone, but Ed doesn't speak German well anymore, and Hans speaks no English.
Now, we want to reunite the two this summer in Nuremberg in person, and film their reunion as part of a mini-documentary on peace and healing from trauma which we would share with schools all around the world along with a curriculum guide.
$11,000 of costs go towards travel for Ed, a granddaughter to travel with him as caregiver, and the videographer. The rest of the costs are for paying the videographer to film and edit the mini-documentary.
The World War II History Project is a 501(c)(3) based in Encinitas, CA and Boca Raton, FL which specializes in documenting the human stories of World War II, especially those of reconnection and healing, to bring to students and adults around the world.
But the events of Kristallnacht in November, 1938 tore the boys apart. 13-year-old Ed and his father fled for their lives out of their apartment, which was trashed by Stormtroopers. He never had a chance to say goodbye to Hansi, and he never saw him again.
Ed escaped Germany in August 1939 on the last Kindertransport before war broke out, and eventually made his way to America. In 1945 he served during WWII as an American G.I. and interpreter in Europe.
After the war, Ed spent most of his life as an educator: teaching, lecturing, writing, and thinking about war and peace, conflict and conflict resolution, mediation, genocide, and holocaust.
In 2015, he asked the World War II History Project to find out what had happened to his friend Hansi as a way to help him work along the path of healing. We found Hansi alive and well, and reconnected them on the phone, but Ed doesn't speak German well anymore, and Hans speaks no English.
Now, we want to reunite the two this summer in Nuremberg in person, and film their reunion as part of a mini-documentary on peace and healing from trauma which we would share with schools all around the world along with a curriculum guide.
$11,000 of costs go towards travel for Ed, a granddaughter to travel with him as caregiver, and the videographer. The rest of the costs are for paying the videographer to film and edit the mini-documentary.
The World War II History Project is a 501(c)(3) based in Encinitas, CA and Boca Raton, FL which specializes in documenting the human stories of World War II, especially those of reconnection and healing, to bring to students and adults around the world.
Organizer
Heather Steele
Organizer
Encinitas, CA
World War II History Project
Registered nonprofit
Donations are typically 100% tax deductible in the US.
