Kurt Klein fled Nazi Germany in 1937, but returned there as a U.S. soldier during World War II. Gerda Weissmann was a Holocaust survivor near death when they met. They fell in love, planned to marry and endured a one-year separation, during which they wrote the letters featured in their book from St. Martin’s Press, “The Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War’s Aftermath.” Nearly 2,000 guests honored the couple when the Midwest Regional Office of the United States Holocaust Museum held its annual book and author lunch at the Chicago Hilton & Towers. A hushed audience listened as the Kleins read aloud excerpts from their book.
At the Goodman Theatre Inaugural Ball, Chicago’s elite celebrated the new theater with a concert by musical star Bernadette Peters, followed by a tented dinner on Block 37.
And at a Standard Club cocktail party and dinner, supporters of the U.S. Ski Team honored several of its athletes.
