Kleinberg, Nancy

Nancy and Howard Kleinberg are survivors of the Holocaust. They have witnessed the terror, the tears, and pain, and have experienced emotions that are inexplicable. They lost their friends and their families, but managed to open their hearts to one other.

Nancy comes from a small town in Poland where she grew up with five brothers and two loving parents, as well as her large extended family. She lived a wonderful childhood where she would play in the parks and every summer visit her grandparents on their farm.  Nancy’s parents owned a shoe store, until one afternoon Nazi soldiers stomped into their store and told them they would be taking the store. Her parents lifelong business, and eventually the family’s freedom, were taken away. Nancy’s family was forced into the ghetto. Her entire family had to leave everything behind: their house, their store, their belongings. They had to pack up a small bag with just a few things.  When the ghetto was liquidated, Nancy was separated from much of her family. She was deported to Auschwitz and became a slave labourer. As the war ended she found herself in Bergen Belsen, where she saved a teenaged boy on the verge of death.  That young man was Howard, and the two of them would reconnect and go on to build a life together in Canada.