[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 104 (Monday, June 23, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             IRVING KLOTHEN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE SESTAK-

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 23, 2008

  Mr. SESTAK. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the 
life of a husband, father, grandfather, and Veteran, who, through hard 
work and determination, fulfilled the American dream. Irving Klothen, 
who passed away on Thursday, June 12, at age 84, believed strongly in 
the principles of democracy and took full advantage of his 
opportunities in the United States, building a prosperous family and 
successful career after narrowly escaping Nazi Germany.
  A German Jew born shortly after the end of World War I, Irving 
Klothen barely avoided deportation by the Nazis when he and his parents 
fled their native Berlin in 1941. Mr. Klothen displayed his strong work 
ethic and his resolve to make the most of his abilities as he 
simultaneously completed his secondary education at night school and 
worked full time for a picture-framing company.
  In 1943, Mr. Klothen entered the U.S. Army and his service included 
guarding German POWs in France, where he met the love of his life, 
Miriam Frank. He and Miriam, another Jewish refugee from Berlin, 
married in 1944.
  Following the war, Mr. Klothen graduated from New York University 
with a degree in chemical engineering and would receive several patents 
for his work with animal-feed additives. His expertise led to business 
trips that turned into family vacations with his son and wife across 
the globe. As an employee of American Cyanamid Co, he traveled to 
Europe, Latin America and Asia.
  Mr. Klothen, a loving father of his son Ken and loving grandfather of 
Erich and Rebecca, never forgot his roots and the family he left behind 
to move to the United States. In 1989, he visited the Berlin Jewish 
School, which he attended more than four decades earlier. He committed 
to assisting the new German Jewish community through work at the now-
Jewish High School of Berlin. Even last year, he funded a program to 
allow teachers from that institution to visit Jewish schools in the 
United States.
  Madam Speaker, I ask you to join me in paying tribute to Irving 
Klothen. Through his beautiful family, and his contributions to Jewish 
communities in America and Germany, he has left a lasting contribution 
that we can all admire.

                          ____________________