The amazing and outstanding book by Gerda Weißmann Klein deals with her life's experiences in the Holocaust, which was known as the "longest hatred toward mankind." This book brings out some of her most dreadful memories of what happened to her family and friends. Gerda Weißmann Klein is a Holocaust survivor and lived by the last words said to her by her parents. She has talents and emotions hoping to find happiness. She now lives life to the fullest and has happiness within herself.
In the Holocaust, Hitler was able to gain control, and brought among the people, the longest hatred that lasted for many years. The process slowly progressed almost weekly, sometimes monthly. Jewish people were not liked by Hitler and they were looked upon as a race instead of a religion. Hitler was seeking world domination. While he was in control, eleven million people, six million of them Jews, were killed. The Jews were not the only ones who had been punished, but were the ones being targeted. German soldiers are the ones who had to carry out the punishments in those crimes. They were not punished physically only mentally if they carried out the punishments. Jewish people were punished in many ways. Some Jewish people were punished more than others, depending on where they were located.
People who were in the Lodz Ghetto were surviving on about 184 calories daily. Some camps fed prisoners more, but never over 1,000 calories per day. Even though the calories were small, work was not. Some prisoners worked ten-to-twelve-hour days. Gerda was put to work on one loom, then worked up to three at a time. Not only did she work on these machines; she also repaired them when necessary. The machines were hard to work with and created bad eyestrain.
The Holocaust lasted from 1933-1945. The rights of Jews were taken away starting in 1933 when Hitler came to power. Gerda was fifteen years old when the Holocaust began and twenty-one when it ended. Through these six years in the Holocaust, Gerda made many friends. Some of her friends were Lisa, Litz, Erica, Liesel, and Suse, who would participate in plays. Gerda would write instead of sleep. Some other things that brought her happiness were the gifts she received from her friends on her birthday. She would often dream about her life after the Holocaust. Her friends were the most important part of her life because together they were happy and stuck with each other literally until the end. Although she found good times with her friends, she also found some of the worst by seeing and knowing each one of them die.
The book amazes me the most to actually know that Gerda is still living after all that she went through. I also think that she would not be where she is today if Gerda did not take her father's advice to wear her ski boots even through the hottest days. One pair of ski boots lasted her two years and saved her life.
Throughout most of the book, Gerda tells of a very good friend, Abek. He was also a Jew and loved Gerda very much in hopes of marrying her after the war ended. Gerda liked Abek as a friend, and they were great friends until the day he died, which was not that far from when that camp was liberated.
Gerda Weißmann Klein is only one of the few who survived the Holocaust and is still living today. The people who were fortunate to survive and make it to the liberation date had no place to go. Even though the Holocaust ended, this didn't mean their troubles did also. Not only did their physical bodies take a long time to heal but also their mental way of thinking. After the Holocaust ended, Gerda began a new life. By the age of twenty-two, she was married and started a family with a man she met after liberation. She found her way as a mother and also later as a grandmother. She is with three children, all of whom listen to her stories of how she grew up in the Holocaust.