Richard Klein was the husband of Maria Klein, and the father of Eduard and Paul. Richard made a living as a trombone player. He and his family were secretly Jews living in Berlin. When infant Paul was diagnosed by his pediatrician, Martin Dambach, with Tay-Sachs disease, a condition most common in Jews, Dambach's receptionist, Esther Stutzman, attempted to alter the Klein genealogical records to account for a possible Jewish ancestor. However, she neglected to remove an older record from Eduard's file which did not show such a possible ancestry. Dambach discovered the discrepancy, and notified the authorities. The family was investigated, but when it was learned that Lothar Prützmann, the Reichsführer-SS, had a great-nephew with Tay-Sachs, the investigation was dropped.