Gerda Weissmann Klein

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Gerda Weissmann Klein

Born May 8, 1924
Bielsko, Poland
Occupation Memoirist
Nationality Polish-American

Gerda Weissmann Klein (born May 8, 1924 in Bielsko, Poland) is a Jewish Holocaust survivor. She has written several books about her experiences, and her story was made into a film, One Survivor Remembers, which won an Academy Award in 1995.

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[edit] Early life

Gerda Weissmann Klein was born in Bielsko, Poland. She describes her earlier days of life as happy and tranquil. Her parents, Julius and Helene, provided a comfortable middle class life for her and her older brother, Arthur. Klein grew up idolizing Arthur, whom she describes as a popular and gifted student.

[edit] Life under the Nazis

When Klein was fifteen, Nazi Germany took over Poland. Shortly after the invasion began, the family received a telegram from Klein's uncle saying that the Germans were advancing quickly and the family should leave Poland immediately. However, Klein's father had just suffered a mild heart attack, and doctors advised that he not be moved or subjected to undue stress. Julius Weissmann ordered his children to flee Poland without him, but they refused.

When the invasion ended, Klein and her family watched in disbelief as people whom they had considered friends began flying the Flag of Nazi Germany and using the Hitler salute. In mid-October, Arthur received a letter from the Germans. As a male between sixteen and fifty, Arthur was required to register into the army. On October 18, 1939, Arthur complied with the summons and never saw his family again.

Klein and her parents were forced to live in the basement of their home and later in a Jewish ghetto. In 1942, Klein was separated from both her parents, who were separately sent to Auschwitz, a death camp; she was sent to the Dulag (Durchgangslager, a transit camp). Later on, she was sent to labor camps in Sosnowitz, Bolkenhain, Märzdorf, Landshut and Gruenberg; Bolkenhain being the most benign camp and Märzdorf being the worst one. In 1945, the inmates at Klein's work camp were sent on a 350-mile death march to avoid the advance of Allied forces. The forced journey went through Dresden, Chemnitz, Zwickau, Reichenbach, Plauen, Germany on through Volary, Czech Republic and she was one of the very few who survived it.

[edit] Liberation

In May 1945, Klein was liberated by forces of the United States Army in Volary, Czechoslovakia. When she was rescued, she weighed 68 pounds, height of 5'4", and her hair had turned white. She was liberated by Kurt Klein, a soldier in the United States Army. He was born in Europe and immigrated to the United States to escape Nazism. Both of his parents had been murdered by the Nazis at Auschwitz. The two fell in love and became engaged in September 1945. They later married.

[edit] Life after the War

In 1946, Gerda and Kurt Klein were married in Paris. They settled in Buffalo, New York and had three children. She became involved with local charities and later began to speak about her experiences during the war. In 1998, the Kleins started the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation, which promotes tolerance, respect, and empowerment of students through education and community service. Kurt Klein died in 2002, but Gerda remains active in the foundation and regularly speaks about her experiences during the Holocaust. On January 27, 2006, she spoke to the United Nations as part of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of Holocaust victims.

[edit] Books

Books by Gerda Weissmann Klein include:

  • All But My Life [1957]
  • The Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War's Aftermath (2001, co-written with Kurt Klein)
  • A Boring Evening At Home
  • The Promise of a New Spring

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. 'Klein, Gerda Weissman. All But My Life HarperCollins, 1995.

[edit] External links

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