Book Review: "All But My Life: A Memoir" by Gerda Weissmann Klein

All But My Life: A Memoir by Gerda Weissmann Klein
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon Book Description

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 heart-wrenching story of one girl's 6-year struggle for survival in Nazi occupied Poland. During this horrific time, Gerda loses everything but her life. The last words she hears from her mother as they are separated "Be strong!" Her father had the wisdom and foresight to tell her to wear her winter hiking boots even though it was the middle of June when she was taken away. Those boots are what helped her survive the death march she walked from January to April 1945. Gerda's story and her will to survive is one that sticks with you long after the last page is read.