All But My Life

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. Gerda's childhood was shattered when the Nazi's marched into Poland in 1939. Although the Weissmann's were permitted to live on for a while in the basement of their home, they were eventually separated and sent to German labour camps. Over the next few years, Gerda experienced the slow 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 firends she had made in the labour camps were dead. Despite her experiences, Gerda Klein conveys a strength of spirit and faith in humanity, demonstrating how hatred can be overcome.