How Gerda Weissman Klein Faced Oppression in the Holocaust
In the novel All But My Life, Gerda Weissmann faces many ways of oppression. In Bielitz, their town was invaded by the Germans, and that was when all of the heinous crimes against Jews were committed. Before they were deported to concentration camps, their rations were very, VERY strictly cut. They were given arm bands with a star of David, and those human beings with names and families were simply labeled JEW. They were forced to sell all of their precious belongings and move to the basement of their house. Gerda’s brother, Arthur, was sent to the military front, where he would never return. She, herself, was split from her parents and never saw them again. In the concentration camp, Gerda and her friends were treated like nothing more than dirt. They were forced to weave cloth for the very country that was killing her loved ones, as well. The camp that she was in, Marzdorf, was worse than the others. She had to do unimaginable things day and night, with hardly any sleep. Later, she was forced on a 4 month-long death march through Europe, in the middle of the winter. Throughout her teenage and early adult years, Gerda was treated very poorly by the Germans and even her own neighbors during the war. In Bielitz, their town was invaded by the Germans. Their rations were very strictly cut. They hardly had any food to live by. “Our rations were less than half the rations of non-Jews.” In addition to that, they were forced to wear yellow arm bands that indicated that they were Jewish.”There he stood, already beyond my reach, my father, the center of my life, just labeled JEW.” Gerda and her family were going to be moved to a ghetto, so they began to sell all of their belongings. One man looked to buy a wine glass set, and he picked up the glass, threw it on the ground, and then said, “I would like this set, but I must pay you less for its missing an item.” Gerda was then moved to a ghetto, where she was confronted by a Gestapo looking for her father, which he said,