Friedman was born on 25 April 1931 in Velky Berezny, now Velykyi Bereznyi, in the Carpathian Mountains, which was then the most easterly part of Czechoslovakia. His family lived in a village called Ljuta.
Friedman’s parents were Izak, who ran a timber business, and Gizela. Friedman was the youngest of four children with one of his sisters called Shari.