Inside the Walls

An idealist and a dreamer, young Eddie Klein recites poetry in the Lodz ghetto, where his talent is noticed by an important member of the Jewish administration. When Eddie is orphaned, he comes under the protective wing of those in charge of the ghetto, including the powerful Mordechai Rumkowski, and his life takes a decidedly different path, giving him a bird’s-eye view of a house of privilege and a polarizing, controversial figure. But in August 1944, Eddie’s fate changes as he is deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau and forced to face, alone, each precarious moment. When Eddie is finally liberated, he is met with indifference about his experiences and he does not speak about the Holocaust for more than fifty years. Inside the Walls, Eddie’s return to the past, is a testimony to one man’s luck, his fight for survival and his courage to speak out.

Introduction by Helene Sinnreich

At a Glance
Poland
Lodz ghetto
Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp
Labour and concentration camps
Death march
Postwar Israel
Arrived in Canada in 1956

120 pages, including index

Recommended Ages
14+
Language
English

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Photo of Eddie Klein

About the author

Eddie Klein was born in Sieradz, Poland, in 1927. He immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1945, where he worked for the Palmach and the Israeli Air Force. Eddie married his wife, Miriam, in Tel Aviv in 1955, and they immigrated to Canada in 1956. Eddie enjoyed windsurfing and lived in Montreal for more than sixty years. Eddie Klein passed away in Israel in 2020.

Rumkowski remains shrouded in mystery, and though my own view may be biased, I am convinced that he cared deeply about the Jews in the ghetto.