Although Oświęcim had a Jewish community making up over half the town with 8,000 people before 1939,[1] all other known Jewish residents, including the rest of Kleuger's family, had either fled in the large-scale exodus shortly before the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II or were deported to concentration camps by Nazi authorities.

He witnessed the gradual liquidation of the Jewish community in Oświęcim and probably saw the Nazis set fire to and destroy the Great Synagogue in September 1939.

In his 1994 book, From Oswiecim to Auschwitz,[6] Moshe Weiss writes of a meeting with him: Upon leaving the death camp at Auschwitz/Birkenau, I stopped in the town to visit Shimek Kluger, the last remaining Jew in Oświęcim.

He offered me refreshments and an hour of gentle conversation, in which he reiterated his hope to leave Poland soon and join his brother and his family in Brooklyn, New York.

Kleuger only left his house on Fridays in order to light Sabbath candles by the wall of the Lom'dei Mishnayos synagogue, which had been used as a carpet warehouse.

A minyan, a quorum of 10 males over the age of 13, was also required – a busload of American Jewish students agreed to attend the funeral to make up this number.

[10] The AJC carried out renovation work and converted the house to the Cafe Bergson museum café, along with educational and exhibition space.

The original entrance door with a mark of a mezuzah has been preserved and the historical elements of the building inside have been exposed.

At Cafe Bergson, cultural and educational projects are organized: visitors learn about the past of Oświęcim and contemporary subjects such as human rights and the natural environment.