Survivor speaks about Holocaust

"Since the blessed day of my liberation I have asked the question, 'Why am I here? I am no better'," Gerda Klein remarked as she received an Oscar last year for her documentary, One Survivor Remembers, which portrays her story as a Holocaust survivor. Klein gave a keynote address yesterday at the Christian Association as part of the University's Holocaust Remembrance Week. Her speech followed a 24-hour vigil on College Green during which students read the names of those who perished in the Holocaust. Klein spoke of her six-year experience in a succession of slave labor camps, which began when she was separated from her family and siblings at the age of 15 during the Nazi invasion of Poland. Her "nightmare" ended in 1945 when American troops liberated her camp. But Klein emphasized that a tender love story emerged from her experience under the Nazis. The American military officer who liberated her from the labor camp was Kurt Klein, to whom she has been married for more than 50 years. Telling the story of how the couple met, Klein explained that when her future husband approached her, she stated, "We are Jewish." The officer then responded, "So am I." "This was the greatest moment in my life," Klein said. Klein also talked about the search for personal strength, which she said can overcome obstacles and sustain one in adversity. She explained that despite the hideous conditions in her slave labor camp, not one woman had a nervous breakdown or tried to commit suicide. "This is the spirit of my people," she said. "When you stand at the crossroads? it may seem dark, but never give up. The darker the night, the brighter the day." That personal strength helped Klein appreciate what is truly important. "The meaning of life is the gentle meadows -- the love of family and the tenderness of friends," she said. Klein also urged the audience to value the advantages they have, especially their freedom. Describing her elation when she was liberated from the camp, she said, "I absorbed the wonder of freedom, the freedom I had prayed for for six years. This is a crushing joy that one can hardly contain." And encouraging younger generations -- whom she referred to as "spiritual heirs" -- to use their privileges to help others, Klein called on everyone to cherish their lives. "Tonight, approach your home slowly. Do not search for something that is missing -- see what is there," she said. "Ask yourself, 'Why am I so lucky? Why am I so blessed?'? Then go to bed and know that you will be more generous than before." Klein explained that the memory of a "boring evening at home" with her family was the "driving force of her survival." At the end of her speech she asked her audience to "pray that all [their] boring evenings be blessed." Following his wife, Kurt Klein told his side of their story, explaining how "it is hard to believe" the conditions in the camps. "I thought I knew Nazi mentality -- but I didn't until I saw that," he said.