Traditionally placed on the right-hand side doorpost of a Jewish house, a mezuzah is a small piece of parchment encased in an ornamental box. It contains a hand-written excerpt from “Shema Yisrael” (Hebrew: Hear, O Israel), a Jewish prayer and a confession of belief in one transcendent God, taken from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4–9, 11:13–21). This unassuming plastic mezuzah is of no exceptional artistic value. Its importance is symbolic, as it is part of the collection of objects found in the house of Szymon Kluger (1925–2000), the last Jewish inhabitant of Oświęcim. Today, the Kluger House is home to Café Bergson, which – together with the restored synagogue and a newly established museum – is managed by the Auschwitz Jewish Center. Founded in Oświęcim in 2000, it cultivates the memory of the Jewish community that constituted over half of the town’s prewar population. Szymon Kluger was their last representative. The door frame also features a characteristic mark left by the removal of the mezuzah, which serves as a poignant prewar reminder of the Jewish presence in Oświęcim. Built in the late 19th century/early 20th century, the house changed hands over time and was consecutively owned by the Wulkan, Leser, and Teichner families. In 1928, it came into the possession of Bernard Teichman and his daughter Fryda Kluger. The Kluger family – Fryda and her husband Symcha as well as their children Mojżesz, Szymon, Bronia, Icchak, Melech, Izrael, Jehoszua, Chaim, and Malka – moved their in the early 1930s. They sold chickens for a living. In addition, Symcha Kluger was a melamed (Hebrew: religious teacher). Every Saturday afternoon he would deliver his commentaries on the Torah in the vestibule of the Great Synagogue in Oświęcim. Of the eleven-strong family, only three siblings, Bronia, Mojżesz, and Szymon, survived the Shoah. After WW2, Bronia and Mojżesz left for the United States, while their brother emigrated to Sweden. In 1961, Szymon Kluger returned to Oświęcim and resided in the family house. He died on 26 May 2000 and was buried in the local Jewish cemetery. His death put an end to the Jewish presence in Oświęcim that stretched over more than four centuries. In 2002, Bronia Rosenblatt and Mojżesz Kluger bequeathed the house to the Auschwitz Jewish Center (AJC).
