Memoirs In Peter Balakian's All But My Life

Memoirs such as The Black Dog of Fate by Peter Balakian and All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein are examples of well written, and historically significant sources of literature. They bring history to life by filling in the facts of the event with emotion and personal experience. While most people would agree that reading an interesting story is more fulfilling and interesting that reading facts from a historian’s text book, there are some draw backs when using only memoirs as a source for information. I will argue that a great majority of memoirists do well when describing their experience of the historical event of discussion. However, it can be an issue when using memoirs such as Gerda Weissmann Klein’s All But My Life as a true historical

We forget things such as details, names, and dates because we do not have perfect memory. Because of this, it is impossible to completely trust everything that is written in any memoir. There are many factors that make memoirs a historical source to be used with caution. When the author went through the substantial event and writes the memoir after an extensive time lapse, they are bound to forget. Some authors may even make up small parts of the event in order to make it a better story for their readers. In Balakian’s The Black Dog of Fate, he describes his childhood with such detail that it is questionable how much he got right. “It’s February 1968,” Peter begins, “and my girlfriend Rose Germain and I are sitting, arms around each other, in the third-row seats of a Ford Country Squire station wagon on a triple date.” Excerpts such as this one make for a good visual, but it is hard to put much stock in these statements because of how much small detail is

No matter how long it has been since it has occurred, and no matter if it is from a personal experience or another generation’s story, it will most likely be present in the memoir. This can paint a picture of an entire people, including the ones who have not caused any harm. While she seems to stray away from generalizing all Germans, Gerda still demonstrates this in parts of the book. Before she is transferred to another labor camp, she has to part with the SS. Frau Kugler, who was partially in charge at Landeshut. Gerda describes this woman in almost a loving way, and giver her hope that not all Germans were cruel.
When she discusses how Germans observed them on their march, she describes the people in their homes as if they are watching animals through glass at a zoo. They seem curious, indifferent, and uncaring towards these people whom they consider to be lower than real humans. Although Gerda describes them in this way, it may never be known if they actually felt this way. Not all Germans were pleased with what they were doing in the war, but to the Jewish people, they felt as if they must have