All But My Life is a memoir written by Gerda Weissmann Klein. This memoir tells about her experiences during World War Two. Her childhood was full of happiness growing up with her Jewish family. This memoir starts two days after the Nazi invasion of Poland. It starts on September 3, 1939 until September of 1945.
All But My Life has three parts in it. Part one has twelve chapters in it. Part one describes her family and how they were able to survive the beginning of the war. Until they were all separated by being transported to different camps and ghettos. Part two has 15 chapters that tells Gerda’s experiences while being under the control of Nazi power and what she witnessed. Lastly, part three has four chapters in it. Part 3 is the end
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She has to learn to become self-reliant as she loses her family members one by one. She starts to mature early in her teenage years. She also remains extremely optimistic during the Holocaust, and is able to focus on the positive aspects of her life. Ilse Kleinzahler is Gerda’s childhood friends who eventually becomes her only family. She is very brave and is willing to risk her life to save Gerda’s. Gerda and Ilse have an inseparable friendship throughout this memoir. They are able to always give each other strength. Abek Feigenblatt is in love with Gerda. He continues to love her even though she rejects him many times. Abek takes the role of Gerda’s brother in her life, even though he wants to marry her. He forces his family to help Gerda. He writes to Gerda constantly despite when he doesn’t receive no responses. Kurt Klein is an American soldier who liberates the remaining girls from the death march. Gerda believes that Kurt is her soul mate. Gerda doesn’t explore his character much. All of the character in the memoir saved Gerda’s life in some …show more content…
Gerda’s dreams never die, when she’s working at the camps she refers to herself as sleepwalking because her dreams became her reality. She’s quick to realize that there is still beauty in the world despite the horrors the Nazi’s are creating. People will always have free will. No matter the circumstances, people always an option to act with humanity and morality. Gerda never loses hope. She’s not strong in religion but she has faith in nature humanity. She believes that no matter what happens, something good has to come from it. The main idea is to never give up on what you believe in, Gerda always told herself to never lose hope, she knew that once she would she wouldn’t be able to make