Based on the secret diaries of the Jewish concentration camp prisoner Gustav Kleinmann, Jeremy Dronfield tells the story of Gustav and his son Fritz, who escaped the “death factories” of the Nazis. In 1939, Gustav Kleinmann, a Jewish upholsterer from Vienna, and his sixteen-year-old son Fritz are arrested by the SS with hundreds of other Jewish men. Torn out of their family circle, the two are first deported to Germany. Assigned to do forced labor in the quarry at the Buchenwald concentration camp, they are among the prisoners who build the camp in the first place. After a while, Gustav—ravaged by the inhumane conditions—is selected for deportation to Auschwitz.

But for son Fritz, the thought of being separated from his father is unbearable. Despite knowing that no one returns from Auschwitz, Fritz volunteers to accompany his father. This is how the two begin a path of suffering that is even more brutal and hopeless than anything they had experienced up until then—and yet the father and son survive together. This is a story of immeasurable cruelty, but also of humanity, courage and hope.

Florian Petautschnig (ORF Science Correspondent) in conversation with Peter Kleinmann.
Peter Kleinmann is the son of Fritz Kleinmann. He has been an integral part of the Austrian volleyball scene since 1962: whether as an active player, coach of the national team, president of the Austrian Volleyball Association or board member of the Austrian Olympic Committee.

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Photo (c) Kurt Kleinmann

Source: Jewish Museum Vienna