Gerda Weissmann Klein's receive, he said: "As an biographical labels are easy author, a historian and a to list: Holocaust survivor, crusader for tolerance, she prolific author, motivational has taught the world that it speaker and, now, recipient is often in our most hopeless of the Presidential Medal of moments that we discover the Freedom. extent of our strength and It has been a life marked by the depth of our love." intense sorrow but also Of all the accolades she has profound joy, emotional received, Weissmann Klein catalysts that propel her to said, the presidential medal make a difference in the was "the crowning of it all." lives of others. Sitting in her light-filled At 87, she may walk a little living room, she reflected on slower and lean closer to the day. She was in awe of hear you speak, but the the other 14 who also passion in her eyes remains received medals. She laughed just as fervent as it was the about rubbing shoulders with day in 1945 when she was former President George H.W. liberated in Germany after Bush, poet Maya Angelou and years of oppression in a investor Warren Buffett. forced-labor camp. "Who am I to be among them?" She went on to become an she wondered at the time. American citizen, developing As they waited to take their a deep love for the United places for the White House States, a love she wishes ceremony, Weissmann Klein more people had. said, the group was merry. "Frankly, I think most people "It was the most wonderful don't appreciate our country, thing. You didn't know if " the Scottsdale resident anybody was Democrat or said. "If you have been Republican. We were all deprived of freedom as I have Americans." been, it is a miraculous As Obama placed the medal thing. Right now, that I can around her neck, she was sit here in my home and tell overcome with emotion. you exactly how I feel "My thoughts were very far without fear that somebody away," she said. "I was on will come and lock me up . . . the death march, remembering " She paused, caught by the how cold and hungry, how emotion of her words. lonely I had been." Being a prisoner is something She remembered the first time she knows too well. In 1939, she saw the man who would her idyllic childhood in become her husband. "I was in southern Poland was shattered rags, weighing 68 pounds. I when German soldiers invaded. hadn't had a bath in two Soon, her brother Artur was years. He was this very taken away by the soldiers. handsome man holding the door. In 1942, at age 18, she was I prayed for him that night. separated from her parents I didn't know his name. I and sent to the labor camp. prayed for his country, and I She would never see her fell in love with America." family members again. Her Her voice, still thick with a days were exhausting, weaving Polish accent, catches. "I cloth for the Germans to make love this country with a love clothing and parachutes, the that only one who has been fibers cutting her hands. It homeless and hungry for as was mindless work. The guards long as I had been can have." were cruel, but she held fast Weissmann Klein lost her to hope. At night, she could beloved husband nine years slip off her shoes to see the ago. Today, she devotes her photographs of her family she time to stir the hearts of had hidden inside. Americans to love their Then came the day in 1945 country a little more, to when she and 2,000 other appreciate being a citizen. female prisoners were led on She and her granddaughter, a 350-mile death march that Scottsdale resident Alysa ended in a bicycle factory in Ullman, travel to schools in the Czech town of Volary, Arizona and beyond to engage where they were abandoned by students in Citizenship their Nazi captors. The next Counts, an organization day, Germany surrendered. One Weissmann Klein founded to of only 120 of the marchers promote interest in civics to survive, she was liberated. education and the And out of what had been responsibility of becoming a great sadness came joy. naturalized citizen. Kurt Klein, a young German- "I want children to know it's born American soldier, rode a privilege to be a citizen," up in a Jeep, rescued her and she said. became her lifelong hero. "All my work up to now - it's Their bond was immediate but always had roots in pain. also linked to tragedy. This is the first time that I Klein's Jewish parents had can do something that doesn't. been killed by the Germans at It is joyful to help the Auschwitz. It was a fate she children of America have also believed came to her pride." family. She believes every act of her While she was recovering in life has prepared her for the Volary, Kurt asked her to next. marry him. In 1946, they wed "Being an American is an in Paris and moved to Buffalo, incredible gift," she said. N.Y. "It's such a sense of Their union began decades of belonging. The first time I community service. The couple saw an American flag going up, began the Gerda and Kurt you cannot imagine my joy. I Klein Foundation, working for no longer lived in the tolerance, ending hunger and shadows." honoring those who died On May 11, Weissmann Klein during the Holocaust. She was at Maryland Elementary became an author. Her 1957 School in Phoenix, seeing the memoir, "All But My Life," culmination of her led to the documentary "One Citizenship Counts program, Survivor Remembers," which as students helped with a won an Emmy and an Oscar in naturalization ceremony. the mid-1990s. "In the late autumn of my She has shared her story so life, I am on a mission to that people will not forget. pay back this country for all On Feb. 15, President Barack that was given to me," she Obama praised her said. "I want all colors, all humanitarianism. During the races, all religions and for ceremony to award her the every child to be free. I Medal of Freedom, the highest want to assure you that every U.S. honor a civilian can dream can become a reality."
Tags: Holocaust, love, Scottsdale, shares, survivor
