Gerda Weissmann Klein Dead At 97: Holocaust Survivor, Oscar Winner

Sadly, Gerda Weissmann Klein has passed away at 97-years-old.

Klein was only a teenager when she survived the Holocaust. She went on to become an author and an activist. Not only was she awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2011, but she was also the subject of a 1995 Oscar-and-Emmy-winning film called “One Survivor Remembers.” The film’s director, Kary Antholis, announced her death on Twitter.

Klein was born on May 8, 1924. When she was only just a teenager, she was sent to a concentration camp in the German-occupied country of Poland. She was sent through three different camps and almost died from overwork.

As Allied troops advanced on the region, Klein was one of the 4,000 women who were sent on a forced death march away from freedom. The group marched from Poland, through Germany, and into what is now the Czech Republic. Although she was able to survive the concentration camps and the forced death march, her parents and her brother passed away.

After her liberation, she married a soldier named Kurt Klein and the two traveled to the United States, where they had three children together.

Klein’s autobiography, “All But My Life,” was turned into a documentary short by Kary Antholis in 1995. He produced and directed the 40-minute film for HBO, calling it “One Survivor Remembers.” It won an Emmy for Outstanding Informational Special and the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject.

After actor and presenter Nicolas Cage announced the film as the winner, Antholis brought Klein up to the stage with him to accept the Oscar. Although the music began playing them off, the music stopped when Klein stepped up to the mic. Her speech is widely regarded as one of the most memorable speeches ever given at the Academy Awards, which can be read in full below.

“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?’

“I am no better. In my mind’s eye I see those years and days and those who never lived to see the magic of a boring evening at home.

“On their behalf I wish to thank you for honoring their memory, and you cannot do it in any better way than when you return to your homes tonight to realize that each of you who know the joy of freedom are winners.”

The full video of her Oscar speech can be viewed above.