Gerda Weissmann Klein and Kurt Klein – A Romance out of Liberation
This is the story of a woman who married her liberator, a Jewish-American soldier, after enduring six years of cruelty, hardship and depravation. Gerda’s childhood was shattered when German forces marched into Poland on September 3, 1939. The Weissmann family was eventually transported to labor camps. By the end of the war, Gerda’s parents, brother and even the dear friends she made in the labor camps, with whom she had shared so many hardships, were dead.
Gerda survived labor camps in Bolkenheim, Marzdorf, Landshut and Gruenberg.
Despite her horrifying experiences, Gerda conveys great strength of spirit and faith in humanity. In the darkness of the camps, Gerda and her young friends managed to create a community of friendship and love. Although stripped of the essence of life, they were able to survive the barbarity of their captors.
Kurt found her and the survivors of the death march in Czechoslovakia, and was able to liberate them and bring them to safety.
Gerda Weissmann Klein and Kurt Klein back where they met at Liberation
>> PDF of the story mural tile display, designed by Bruce Vogel