US philanthropist honors 6 Germans' efforts to preserve Jewish history
By Associated Press
January 27, 2009

BERLIN (AP): A German couple who started a charity to help bring back Jews who fled the Holocaust were honored Tuesday for their efforts to preserve the country's Jewish cultural past.

The annual Obermayer German Jewish History Awards — funded by Arthur Obermayer, a philanthropist from Boston — recognize efforts by non-Jewish Germans to preserve Jewish history.

In the early 1990s, Ernst and Brigitte Klein, who run a construction firm in Volkmarsen, north of Frankfurt, began wondering what happened to the Jews who fled their area.

"We thought: why not find these people ourselves?" Ernst Klein told the AP.

They began their search with newspaper ads in New York and Israel. After locating people, they invited Jewish families to visit their town.

"We never thought we would have such deep friendships with these people," Klein said. "They shared very personal stories with us — sometimes the first time they'd told anyone."

The Kleins set up an education center with the help of others in the town to preserve the documents and stories from the visitors.

Obermayer, a Jewish American whose grandparents were German, established the awards after being overwhelmed by help he received from Germans in researching his family's past.

Jews outside Germany nominate the recipients every year. The Kleins were among six people honored Tuesday.