For more information, review the Oral History with Bernard and Emery Klein from May 23, 1984 at http://holocaust.umd.umich.edu/klein/ or RG-50.155*0228. Refer also to the Washington Post article on the first transport to Auschwitz with teenage girls from Humenne, including Edith Friedman Grosman: https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/01/27/first-transport-jews-auschwitz-was-997-teenage-girls-few-survived/
The five original film reels are labeled: (1) Around Before LS Europe Trip (Film ID 2988); (2) My Trip to Europe - March 29, 1932 (Film ID 412.1); (3) My Trip to Europe Continued (Film ID 412.2); (4) My Trip to Europe Continued (Film ID 413); (5) Louis Sommer's Family Abroad (Film ID 2989).
Louis Sommer was born in Izbugya, Hungary and emigrated to the United States in 1899. He settled in Omaha, Nebraska where he owned a grocery business at the intersection of Dodge Street and 49th Street. Louis and his brother Harry visited their father Barnath and extended family and friends in Humenne, Slovakia in March 1932. They recorded Jewish families and businesses with a movie camera. Bernard and Emery Klein were born in Humenné, Slovakia. They had a younger sister, Judith (b. 1933); their mother was Jacob Grossman's sister; their father, Hermann Klein, owned a kosher and non-kosher meat market, farm and brick manufacturing company in Humenné. The Germans occupied the area in 1939 and started to deport the Jews in 1941. The Klein family was not deported until 1944 because Mr. Klein was an important farming advisor. The family was sent to Auschwitz without Bernard, who had become separated. Mrs. Klein and her daughter were immediately gassed upon arrival at the camp. Bernard was reunited with his brother and father at Auschwitz a month later. The three were sent to Gleiwitz where Emery and his father worked in a factory while Bernard worked in the concentration camp kitchen. In 1945, as the Russian army advanced into the area, the camp was evacuated to Blechhammer, another camp in the vicinity. The German guards fled the camp, leaving the prisoners. A few days later, the brothers, their father and several others began walking back to Humenné. The Klein family moved to Israel, Montreal, and eventually to Detroit, Michigan. Their cousin, Ladislav Grossman, also survived; he is the author of the award-winning film,"A Shop on Main Stree" (1965). Bernard and Emery Klein were born in Humenné, Slovakia. They had a younger sister, Judith (b. 1933); their mother was Jacob Grossman's sister; their father, Hermann Klein, owned a kosher and non-kosher meat market, farm and brick manufacturing company in Humenné. The Germans occupied the area in 1939 and started to deport the Jews in 1941. The Klein family was not deported until 1944 because Mr. Klein was an important farming advisor. The family was sent to Auschwitz without Bernard, who had become separated. Mrs. Klein and her daughter were immediately gassed upon arrival at the camp. Bernard was reunited with his brother and father at Auschwitz a month later. The three were sent to Gleiwitz where Emery and his father worked in a factory while Bernard worked in the concentration camp kitchen. In 1945, as the Russian army advanced into the area, the camp was evacuated to Blechhammer, another camp in the vicinity. The German guards fled the camp, leaving the prisoners. A few days later, the brothers, their father and several others began walking back to Humenné. The Klein family moved to Israel, Montreal, and eventually to Detroit, Michigan. Their cousin, Ladislav Grossman, also survived; he is the author of the award-winning film,"A Shop on Main Stree" (1965).
Reel 4. Women and children from the Sommer and Klein families in alley and doorway of house; they walk towards the camera. Some gather in BG (VQ: fuzzy). Children and women in a group. CU, children slowly walk towards camera. 02:00:43 Pan (left to right), men posing (all in suits, hats, overcoats), glimpse of an automobile next to them. Women and children at family's storefront; pan (left to right) of sign,"Houstinec, Sommer" Man and boy alley (same as before) walk towards camera in an alley. Other members of the family walk towards camera as well, including women, children, and cameraman. 02:01:49 Pan (up and down) of windows on a building. Children pose in a field, horses and trees are visible. Other family members also in field. Family poses for the camera in streets lining the city square. Women walk past and towards the camera; shops and square in BG. More family members walk towards camera and wave. 02:03:47 Peasant women and children in field; huts in BG. Women with kerchiefs are dressed in white, posing with a cow. In town, the Klein and Sommer family members in an alley (repeat sequence of walking towards the camera). They smile and laugh.
Family poses for camera; city square