Bread or Death: Memories of My Childhood During and After the Holocaust - Softcover

The war brought about scarcities of just about everything...except misery.

“Alle raise,” (everybody out), the German soldiers screamed as they pounded on our door with the butts of their rifles. And thus began a 4,500-mile journey from Poland through Russia and Siberia and eventually to Uzbekistan in Central Asia, as the author’s family used bribery and darkness of night to flee as the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939.

Young Mendel, from age four to fourteen, tells in vivid detail the wretched journey in cramped cattle cars through frigid Russia, the indignities of being forced labor, the shame of begging for bread just to survive, and death of those closest to him. The family’s plight includes abandonment, hunger, and separation (and later remarkable twists of fate and reunion) quite unlike other Holocaust stories.

This coming-of-age Holocaust memoir is the author’s personal account of how—through great sacrifices by his mother—he managed to survive the worst atrocities in human history and his uncertain days in a Polish Children’s Home, scrabbling for fallen fruit, and surviving kidnapping and murder on the Black Road, and return to German Displaced Persons camps at war’s end. But to what fate?

Originally written as a memoir just for his grandchildren, Milton Kleinberg gives a moving account of his family’s hardships and eventual immigration with a lump-in-the-throat passage to America past the Statue of Liberty and into a land of opportunity tinged with bigotry yet with a promise to future generations.

This book for young adults has been reviewed by the Institute for Holocaust Education and includes a glossary, a book club discussion guide, a timeline, and a Teacher’s Guide.

Milton M. Kleinberg is Chairman and CEO of Senior Market Sales, Inc., an Omaha-based insurance marketing company that provides insurance solutions for an aging America. The company was founded in 1982. Under his leadership, the company has thrived in an ever-evolving senior market by staying on the cutting edge of technology, developing products to meet a changing marketplace, and devising innovative marketing techniques. His company now serves over 20,000 independent agents writing hundreds of millions of dollars in life and health insurance premium each year worldwide. SMS employs people throughout the United States and Israel, and is one of Omaha s fastest growing companies. Kleinberg has served as a special advisor to Congress on insurance reform. He also holds positions on many carrier and industry association advisory boards. He is the author of a popular, informative handbook on Social Insurance Solutions For An Aging America: Exploring The Past, Present, and Future of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Despite his accolades and success in the insurance industry, Kleinberg still maintains his agent licenses and certificates and serves an active client list. He feels he cannot properly serve the agents his company contracts with unless he himself is in the field selling the same products. When asked about his success, Kleinberg likes to say, "After fifty years of hard work, I became an overnight success." Today, Kleinberg still runs his company and travels extensively with his wife of over 50 years, Marsha. He enjoys writing, but he can also be found hustling handball games at the Jewish Community Center in Omaha or playing golf and has no plans to retire. Milt and Marsha Kleinberg are generous philanthropists giving of their time and expertise to unselfishly serve their religious and local communities. They support a number of nonprofit organizations and charitable causes including the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Chabad House of Nebraska, The Salvation Army, Beth Israel Synagogue, Friedel Jewish Academy, Bellevue University, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), United Way, the Omaha Public Library, and the Omaha Food Bank. Kleinberg has begun speaking about his Holocaust experience at schools and synagogues and for the Institute for Holocaust Education. He is dedicated to carrying on the memory of the Holocaust so that future generations can better understand what happened so that it never happens again.