All But My Life | Gerda Weissmann Klein

All But My Life | Gerda Weissmann Klein | Survial of the Human Spirit~A deeply moving story.

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All But My Life

	All But My Life Gerda Weissmann Klein Hill and Wang, 1995 - 261 pages average customer review:based on 96 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troops--including the man who was to become her husband--in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945, Gerda takes the reader on a terrifying journey.

Gerda's serene and idyllic childhood is shattered when Nazis march into Poland on September 3, 1939. Although the Weissmanns were permitted to live for a while in the basement of their home, they were eventually separated and sent to German labor camps. Over the next few years Gerda experienced the slow, inexorable stripping away of "all but her life." By the end of the war she had lost her parents, brother, home, possessions, and community; even the dear friends she made in the labor camps, with whom she had shared so many hardships, were dead.

Despite her horrifying experiences, Klein conveys great strength of spirit and faith in humanity. In the darkness of the camps, Gerda and her young friends manage to create a community of friendship and love. Although stripped of the essence of life, they were able to survive the barbarity of their captors. Gerda's beautifully written story gives an invaluable message to everyone. It introduces them to last century's terrible history of devastation and prejudice, yet offers them hope that the effects of hatred can be overcome.

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Powerful

I read this book a long time ago and just got done listening to the book on tape for the second time. It is the most powerful representation of the Holocaust I have found. Please read this book if you want to learn about the Holocaust from a gifted author and survivor.

Survial of the Human Spirit~A deeply moving story.

This is one of the first Holocaust survival stories that I read. It is by far one that has stayed with me in the most detail.

What a strong girl Gerda is. she was told to never give up her boots and in the end it is one thing that saved her life after marching in a blizzard half frozen to death. How she survived is nothing short of a miracle.

Reading this when you are in a hard time reminds you that you do have the inner strength to survive. If she can do that then I can face my problems. It is quite graphic and tells the truth of really happened in the holocaust.

I'm not going to give the story away I'm just going to say you will cry and rejoyce in this story. It will touch you to core of your very being.

I must read for EVERYONE!

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Page Turner

This book was gripping and I could not put it down until I finished it. It's so hard to believe the hardships so many endured for being Jewish. A must read. Beautifully written with rich detail.

an incredible book

I have read many of the holocaust books out there but this is the one I pass on to friends to read. Especially moving is the liberation of the prisoners at the end of the book. I wish all schools made this mandatory reading. What a way to learn history! This author is quite an incredible woman.

Holding on for just one more day...

Despite the horrors around her, and fellow prisoners dying and becoming mentally unbalanced every day, young Gerda Weissman managed to survive several Nazi camps from the late 1930s through the grisly end of World War II.

Imagine being a teenager, wrenched away from your beloved parents, older brother and home -- and never seeing any of them ever again. It would be enough to make anyone unstable, not to mention bitter. Yet somehow, Gerda emerges from her horrifying ordeal stronger than she began. As her body heals in a hospital run by the Allies during the spring of 1945, Gerda begins a relationship with Kurt Klein -- a young soldier who urges her to tell her story.

Now an elderly woman living in Arizona, Gerda Weissman Klein is able to see just how far she's come from the young Jewish girl living a priviledged life in Poland. Yet at the same time, her writing style allows readers to see clearly just how that same persona has managed to live such a rich, eventful life to the fullest all of these years.

I've read many Holocaust memoirs, though I must say that Gerda's story is beautifully and distinctly told.

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