A BORING EVENING AT HOME
A collection of Stories and Memories by Gerda Weissmann Klein
150 pages; 0971007888
Leading Authorities Press, Washington, DC

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The book is a glimpse into the life of Gerda Klein, and into the thoughts that have always vindicated her belief that the most treasured place on earth is home, and that the most beautiful and desirable aim for people is to spend "a boring evening" there with family.

"I have been in a place for six incredible years, where winning meant a crust of bread and to live another day. Since the blessed day of my liberation I have asked the question, Why am I here?...

In my mind’s eye I see those years and faces of those who never knew the magic of a boring evening at home. On their behalf I wish to thank you for honoring their memory, and you cannot do that in a better way than when you return to your homes tonight to realize that each of you who knows the joy of freedom is a winner. On their behalf I wish to thank you with all my heart."

-- Remarks by Gerda Weissmann Klein, acknowledging the Oscar for the documentary One Survivor Remembers, at the Sixty-eighth Annual Academy Awards in 1996

ALL BUT MY LIFE
by Gerda Weissmann Klein
272 pages; 0-0890-1580-3
Hill and Wang, New York

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All But My Life is the unforgettable story of Gerda Weissmann Klein's six year ordeal as a victim of Nazi cruelty. From her comfortable home in Bielitz (present-day Bielsko) in Poland to her miraculous survival and her liberation by American troops -- including the man who was to become her husband -- in Volary, Czechoslovakia, in 1945, Gerda takes the reader on a terrifying journey.

Gerda's serene and idyllic childhood is shattered when the Nazis march into Poland on September 3, 1939. Although the Weissmanns were permitted to live on for a while in the basement of their home, they are eventually separated and sent to German labor camps. Over the next few years Gerda experienced the slow, inexorable stripping away of all but her life. By the end of the war she had lost her parents, brother, home, possessions, and community; even the dear friends she made in the labor camps, with whom she had shared so many hardships, were dead.

Despite her horrifying experiences, Gerda Weissmann Klein 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; stripped to the essence of life, they were able to survive the barbarity of their captors. Gerda's beautifully written story gives an invaluable message to young Americans. It introduces them to this century's terrible history of devastation and prejudice, yet shows that with hope and faith, hatred can be overcome.

THE HOURS AFTER:
Letters of Love and Longing in War's Aftermath
by Gerda Weissmann Klein and Kurt Klein
276 pages; 0-312-24258-1
St. Martin's Press, New York

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On September 23, 1945, Gerda Weissmann wrote to Kurt Klein, "With you I have been able to laugh again as I never thought I could. I guess there is no pain or sorrow that love can't heal."

Before then, Gerda had lost everything and everyone... except her soul. In May 1945, barely alive in a Nazi slave labor camp on the German/Czech border, Gerda and her fellow prisoners were liberated by the Americans. When GI Kurt Klein approached her, Gerda led him to the others who lay sick and dying in the bunks, and quoted Goethe: "Noble be man, merciful and good." And a great love had begun and then forged through a year of letterwriting leading up to their wedding on June 18, 1946.

Their letters, collected in THE HOURS AFTER, show the redemptive power of love in the face of tragedy and loss. They reveal a time when the world was beginning again and two young people -- made old by the horrors of war -- reclaim their youth and discover love.

THE HOURS AFTER is not a book about the horrors of the Holocaust but rather an honest unfolding of passion and vitality. In the shadow of a devasted world, Gerda and Kurt fell in love through their words. THE HOURS AFTER proclaims the beauty and power of letters, made all the more poignant now when the art of letter writing is fading from contemporary society.

PROMISE OF A NEW SPRING:
The Holocaust and Renewal
By Gerda Weissmann Klein
Illustrated by Vicent Tartaro
0-940646-51-X
Phoenix Folios, Arizona

Purchase this Book Directly!
Order info: 610/668-2314 (phone)
610/668-2313 (fax)

Gerda Weissmann Klein wrote PROMISE OF A NEW SPRING for her grandchildren, so they would begin to understand her experiences during the Holocaust. Read this book yourself, and you will mourn the passing of an era -- the loss of human innocence. Your heart will break for hearts that beat no longer.

Let a child read this book, and you will open a doorway of understanding -- an evocation of the world destroyed, the cruelty of destruction, and the courage of those who seek to rebuild and renew.

Share this book with a child, and you will share an experience -- a precious moment in time for you both. In its poetry and in its sensitivity are worlds of meaning waiting to be discovered, and the eternal discovery that gives hope to them all: that young people themselves are the promise of a new spring. Recommended for readers aged 7 to 10.

The Blue Rose
The second edition of The Blue Rose by Gerda Weissmann Klein was recently published. The book is the story of Jenny, a child with developmental disabilities. It was among the first books (1974) to be written in an effort to help people understand and empathize with those with developmental disabilities. ORDER NOW!

Wings of Epoh
The uplifting story of a young boy struggling with an autism spectrum disorder and the personal courage he finds from an unlikely friendship with an empathetic butterfly. ORDER NOW!

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