Name: Tracie McMurray's review of All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein
Item: All But My Life
Rating: 5
Author: Tracie McMurray

Gerda Weissmann Klein

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.

A Memoir

All But My Life

Kayleigh Septer

The story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six-year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. It takes the reader on a terrifying journey from the author's comfortable home in the Polish town of Bielitz to her survival and liberation by American troops - one of whom was to become her husband - in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945.

Tracie McMurray

Caroline Lewicki

What a powerful, heartbreaking story. Gerda Weissmann Klein's memoir of her life under Nazi occupation is frightening and gut wrenching, but at times uplifting. She doesn't fail to include those who made kind gestures throughout her life, some that she attributes to her survival. In the Epilogue, she discusses her move to Buffalo, NY (just an hour away from where I grew up) and her later move to Arizona (where I reside now) and I was shocked I'd never heard her story. She is easily one of the Holocaust stories that should be revered as Anne Frank's.

I highly recommend this to anyone interested in history or the Holocaust.

Melody Izard

I've read too many of these and need to stop. Gerda is a dear soul, who obviously suffered greatly. But I was very tempted throughout listening to this audio version to fast forward through to the end. It does not diminish her ordeal. Can you tell I'm feeling guilty by my two-star rating? But it stays.

Pela Kolsto

This was-amazing. Absolutely amazing. An amazing autobiography about a holocaust survivor. I would recommend this book to everyone.

Kayleigh Septer &
All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein

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Kayleigh Septer &All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein

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Kayleigh Septer &
All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein