Journals - A Conversation with Gerda Weissmann Klein
MAGPI hosted a service project titled STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. LEND A HAND during the 2010-2011 school year.

The first conference was a special one for all 20 schools involved. CITVC conferenced with renowned human rights activist, Academy Award winner and Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein. She "teaches each one of us about tolerance, understanding and making a difference. Gerda Klein’s spirit helped her survive six years under Nazi rule; through her story, and her unique perspective, she continues to help each one of us to understand the dangers of hate and extremism.

Students involved in STAND UP. SPEAK OUT. LEND A HAND will hear from Gerda during a special interactive videoconference event and then embark upon their own service learning projects. Each participating school will be tasked with designing and implementing a service learning project that combats social issues in their community." CITVC watched the documentary One Survivor Remembers together in class and researched her life and her humanitarian work. MAGPI provided the film as well as a teacher's guide for this project.



"In the winter of 1945, on the day of her liberation from six years of Nazi rule, Gerda Weissmann clung to life at the end of a 350-mile death march. She weighed 68 pounds, her hair had turned white, and she had not had a bath in three years. She survived with courage, grace and dignity."  -Gerda Weissmann Klein

Chris
 "This videoconference really opened my eyes to the struggles people go through and how they are greater than my own. She is so thankful and grateful for everything she has, and sometimes I need to be a little more like that. I loved being apart of one of the last conferences Gerda will participate in (she is retiring in early 2011), and I hope to speak with more people like her in the future."  -Caitlyn
We used these sources for our research:

1) Her Academy Award speech for Best Documentary Short Subject One Survivor Remembers
2) To read more about Gerda's life, click here
3) The Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation

 4)  2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to Gerda Weissmann Klein by President Obama
5) The Klein Foundation YouTube Channel
6) Holocaust Survivor Klein Addresses United Nations
Other Journal Pages:

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