Friday, October 7, 2011

Gerda Weissmann Klein


I find Gerda Weissman Klein to be a very inspirational person. As a fifteen year old, she was separated from her family during the Holocaust, and later found that they were all killed.

I had already bought her autobiography “All But My Life,” which I highly recommend, when I found out that we would be reading it for school. Before we started reading the book, Gerda visited our school. Prior to her arrival, we watched her HBO documentary, “One Survivor Remembers,” for which she won an Academy Award and an Emmy. (To see her Oscar acceptance speech, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zn-fPM4KS0 ) Once she had arrived at my school, I listened as a few students interviewed her. It is incredible that with all that she has gone through, she continues to actively work, telling her story so that we don’t forget. Instead of just living a quiet, relaxed life after her liberation, she passionately pursues her mission to educate the public about the Holocaust so that we remember what happened and its lesson isn’t lost. She inspires me to learn more about history, and to follow my goals. Gerda also makes me realize how lucky I am and how much I take for granted. As she often says, one of the most precious things in life is a boring evening at home with your family.

4 comments:

  1. I find anyone who has survived the Holocaust a very inspirational person. Especially the ones who became activists, like Gerda. I can't imagine how hard it would be to live through all of that and come out sane.

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  2. I agree with the post above and also think the fact that she has the strength to talk about what i'm sure was horrific events for her is something notable.

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  3. gerda visited my school as well. she was the only speaker we got to listen to with in my four years and im glad i got to. she told us that when her and the rest of her camp was rescued she met a very nice man in the army and they got married soon after. it goes to show that good things can come out of a terrible situation.

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