All but My Life, Gerda Weissmann Klein
All but My Life, Gerda Weissmann Klein
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All but My Life

Author: Gerda Weissmann Klein

Narrator: Grace Conlin

Unabridged: 9 hr 13 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/20/2010


Synopsis

All but My Life is the basis for the HBO Academy Award winning best documentary short, One Survivor Remembers. This is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Kleins sixyear ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz, Poland, to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troopsincluding the man who was to become her husbandin Volary, Czechoslovakia, Gerda takes us on a terrifying journey. Gerdas 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. Gerdas beautifully written story gives an invaluable message to everyone. It introduces them to last centurys terrible history of devastation and prejudice, yet offers them hope that the effects of hatred can be overcome.

About Gerda Weissmann Klein

Gerda Weissmann Klein was born in Bielsko, Poland, in 1924, and now lives in Arizona. Her husband, Kurt Klein, as a US Army lieutenant liberated Weissmann on May 7, 1945. The author of five books, she has received many awards and honorary degrees and has lectured throughout the country for the past forty-five years. Kurt and Gerda are the authors of The Hours After: Letters of Love and Longing in War’s Aftermath. One Survivor Remembers, winner of an Emmy Award and the Academy Award for documentary short subject, was based on All but My Life.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Katie on May 01, 2017

The artistry and vitality and heart with which Gerda Weissmann Klein brings to life her experiences as a young Polish Jewish girl during the Holocaust is nothing short of extraordinary. This is as moving and heartbreaking and life affirming as any book I’ve ever read. And perhaps its greatest triump......more

Goodreads review by Gary on May 07, 2022

In this fascinating volume Gerda Weissmann talks about her experiences during the holocaust from the age of 15 to 20. She tells of three years in a labour camp , and three years of a forced winter march from Poland to Czechoslovakia. What makes this book remarkable is the decency and love that sustain......more

Goodreads review by Selina on September 28, 2008

This is my all time favorite book because what it did for me during a very difficult time in my life. I was struggling with a horrible case of postpartum depression and, somehow, I came across this book that changed my life. I can never again TRULY feel sorry for myself. The trials I have endured are......more