In 1934, Klarwein emigrated with his non-Jewish wife Elsa (née Kühne), an opera singer, and their son Mati during the Fifth Aliyah to the British Mandate of Palestine, because they saw no future in Nazi Germany.[1]: 295 Klarwein changed his first name from the Slavic name variant Ossip to the Hebrew form Yosseph.[1]: 295 In Haifa, Klarwein became an independent architect.[1]: 295