First published in 1957, All but My Life is a celebrated Holocaust memoir by Gerda Weissmann Klein (1924-2022). The narrative begins in 1939, when Gerda was 15 years old, and details the Nazi invasion of her hometown, Bielitz, Poland, and the subsequent six years of persecution she endured. Gerda recounts her family’s separation, her experiences in a series of forced-labor camps, and her survival of a brutal 300-mile death march that ended with her liberation by American forces in Czechoslovakia. The memoir is a testament to the power of Hope Sustained by Memory and Vows; a study of Complicity, Compassion, and Human Ambivalence; and an exploration of Female Solidarity as a Lifeline.

Gerda dedicated her life after the war to Holocaust education and human-rights advocacy. After immigrating to the United States and marrying Kurt Klein, one of her American liberators, she authored several books and became an internationally recognized speaker. All but My Life is a classic of the genre and has been used extensively in educational settings. The memoir served as the basis for the 1995 documentary One Survivor Remembers, which won both an Academy Award and an Emmy Award. In recognition of her life’s work, Gerda was appointed to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Governing Council, and she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.

This guide refers to the 2019 Hill and Wang expanded paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, child death, animal death, graphic violence, sexual violence and harassment, physical abuse, child abuse, mental illness, suicidal ideation, racism, religious discrimination, and substance use.

Summary

On September 3, 1939, 15-year-old Gerda Weissmann’s life in Bielitz, Poland, was shattered when the German army invaded. Along with her father, Julius; her mother, Helene; and her 19-year-old brother, Arthur, Gerda watched as their non-Jewish neighbors celebrated the soldiers’ arrival. The family had remained in town due to Julius’s recent heart attack, a condition that also led Helene to disregard a cable message from her brother Leo in Turkey urging them to flee. After rejecting an offer for the children to escape with friends, the family resolved to stay together. The occupation’s brutality became immediately apparent when a neighbor reported that the local Temple was set on fire with Jews trapped inside. The next day, Arthur refused to help neighbors sew the family’s Polish flag into a Nazi flag to hang from their house.

Life under German rule grew increasingly harsh. Jews were forced to surrender their valuables, and Julius and Arthur had to hide from frequent SS patrols. In early October, Julius’s sister Anna arrived with her daughter, Miriam, recounting a harrowing escape during which her son, David, was taken by soldiers. Miraculously, David arrived the next day, having escaped a mass execution by hiding in a tree. Arthur became withdrawn, consumed with worry for his girlfriend, Gisa, and sank into despair after finding her home empty. Soon after, a notice ordered all Jewish men to register for forced labor. On October 19, 1939, Arthur was taken away, asking his family not to see him off at the station.

Weeks passed with no word from Arthur. Julius’s business partner Mr. Pipersberg was severely beaten by Nazis, and Gerda later helped him evade the Gestapo. Terrifying news arrived that Arthur’s transport was attacked in the woods and that 36 men were killed. In late November, all Jews in Bielitz were ordered to report for deportation. As the family sold their belongings, Helene experienced a mental-health crisis. After witnessing Gerda’s despair, Julius made her promise never to take her own life. The deportation was unexpectedly postponed, but shortly before Christmas, the family was forced out of their home and into their own damp, two-room basement. Gerda’s former nanny, Sophie “Niania” Brenza, continued to bring them food despite the danger.

A letter from Gisa brought false hope that Arthur was safe in Russia, but Arthur’s friend Peter later revealed to Gerda that the story was fabricated to comfort her parents. Gerda kept the secret. In March 1940, a letter from Arthur finally arrived, confirming that he and David were actually alive in Russian-occupied Lwow and had been reunited with David’s father, Aaron. To cope with the lack of schooling, Julius began tutoring Gerda and her friend Ilse Kleinzähler. The family survived by knitting sweaters, which Helene traded for food. That fall, Gerda visited a nearby forced-labor camp, where she met Abek Feigenblatt, an artist who was immediately captivated by her.

A friendship developed, and Abek began visiting Gerda frequently. One evening, he professed his love and asked her to promise to marry him after the war. Gerda was conflicted, as she liked Abek but didn’t love him, and she asked for time to consider. Her personal dilemma was soon overshadowed by a horrifying letter from her former classmate Erika, which detailed the massacre of the Jews in her town. On April 19, 1942, the remaining Jews of Bielitz were ordered into a ghetto. After an emotional farewell to Niania and her childhood home, Gerda and her parents moved.

Life in the ghetto was fraught with rumors of deportation to Auschwitz. One day, a Gestapo officer raided their apartment and held a pistol to Gerda’s chest, demanding to know her father’s whereabouts. In May 1942, all Jews capable of physical labor were registered for work; Julius was sent to a labor camp in Sucha, and Gerda was assigned to a weaving mill in Wadowitz. In early June, they learned that a final deportation was imminent. After a final night together, Julius departed for his camp. Before leaving, he insisted that Gerda wear her sturdy ski boots for her journey, a decision that proved vital to her survival. Gerda never saw him again. The next day, she and Helene were marched to a field for a selection overseen by Moses Merin, a Jewish leader collaborating with the Nazis. An SS officer separated Gerda from her mother, sending Gerda to the labor side and Helene to the side destined for death. When Gerda jumped from the transport truck to run to her mother, Merin threw her back on. As the truck pulled away, Helene told her to be strong.

Gerda and other young women were taken to a transit camp in Sosnowitz. While there, she secured a permit to visit Abek’s family, who offered to secure her release. She struggled with the decision, knowing that accepting his help would oblige her to marry him. She ultimately chose to remain with her friends to protect her own autonomy and was transported to Bolkenhain, a textile factory and labor camp, on July 2, 1942. On the train, she befriended a girl named Suse Kunz. At the camp, they were placed under the charge of supervisor Frau Kügler and a Jewish elder, Mrs. Berger.

The work at the weaving mill was grueling, but the conditions were relatively clean. Gerda’s hope of hearing from her father was crushed when a letter she sent him was returned. Mrs. Berger helped Gerda accept that he was dead. Gerda received a few despairing letters from Arthur, who was in another camp, and on Christmas Day 1942, she was overcome with the certainty that she would never see him again. Abek wrote that his entire family had been deported to Auschwitz. Overwhelmed with obligation, Gerda wrote back, falsely professing her love. In August 1943, the Bolkenhain camp was dissolved.

Gerda and Ilse were sent to Märzdorf, a brutal camp where a cruel supervisor singled Gerda out for punishment after she rejected his advances. She was forced to work on the flax detail by day and unload coal by night. Exhausted, she contemplated suicide but was stopped by the memory of her promise to her father. Ilse managed to get them both transferred to Landeshut, where they were reunited with Suse and Frau Kügler. In November 1943, a men’s camp, Zum Burgberg, was established nearby. Gerda was shocked to learn that Abek had voluntarily transferred to this notoriously brutal camp to be near her. She saw him periodically, wracked with guilt over his sacrifice. In May 1944, the Landeshut camp was evacuated, and on her 20th birthday, Gerda left a final note for Abek.

Gerda, Ilse, and Suse were sent to Grünberg, a large, modern textile mill where a sadistic director presided over harsh conditions. In Grünberg, Gerda befriended a girl named Liesel Stepper. They were assigned to the spinning room, where the flax dust caused many to contract tuberculosis, which meant a death sentence to Auschwitz. In September 1944, Gerda was brutally beaten by a guard, an incident that shattered her morale. On January 29, 1945, with the Russian army advancing, the camp was evacuated, and Gerda and approximately 4,000 other female prisoners began a death march in the snow.

The march continued for weeks through freezing temperatures with almost no food. Those who couldn’t keep up were shot. The prisoners passed through Dresden during its firebombing and were briefly held at a horrific camp in Helmbrechts, where Gerda befriended a Hungarian professor named Lilli. In April 1945, the march resumed. Ilse became too weak to walk and, after a day carried in the “sick wagon,” died in Gerda’s arms in a cold meadow in Czechoslovakia. The remaining women, now numbering only around 120, continued on, learning that Adolph Hitler was dead. In early May, they arrived in the Czech town of Volary and were locked in an abandoned factory where a time bomb had been set.

The bomb failed to detonate. Czech partisans broke open the doors and urged the prisoners to flee an impending SS attack. Gerda and two other women hid inside a metal cylinder as SS soldiers fired into the factory. On May 7, 1945, Czech citizens announced that the war was over, and Gerda saw a white flag of surrender flying from a church steeple. Her friend Suse died that morning. American soldiers arrived, and an intelligence officer spoke to Gerda. When she told him that she was Jewish, he revealed that he was, too. The survivors were taken to a makeshift hospital, where Gerda learned that her friends Liesel and Lilli had also died. Weighing only 68 pounds, she was diagnosed with pneumonia and typhus. She was critically ill for weeks and learned on her 21st birthday, May 8, that Germany had officially capitulated.

The American soldier, Kurt Klein, returned to visit Gerda daily, bringing her flowers and books. He revealed that his own parents were deported from Germany and disappeared, creating a bond of shared loss between them. Gerda slowly recovered, though a doctor warned that her frostbitten feet may need to be amputated. She refused and began painful therapy. Kurt was transferred to a post near Munich, leaving Gerda devastated. A few weeks later, a letter arrived from him, and he soon returned for a surprise visit. He comforted her as she cried, and she felt safe and at peace. After the war with Japan ended, he kissed her, and Gerda realized that she was falling in love.

Gerda recovered and moved to Munich, where she got a job with the American Civilian Censorship Division. A letter from her uncle in Turkey arrived with no news of her parents or brother, and Gerda finally accepted that she was the sole survivor of her family. On September 13, 1945, Kurt announced that he was being sent home to the United States and asked Gerda to come with him and be his wife. Overjoyed, she accepted. They decided that he would return to the US first and send for her. Gerda faced the future with hope, knowing that despite the impending separation, she had found love and would never be truly alone again.