Tags: Bolkenhain camp

The play was written and staged by Gerda Weissmann while imprisoned at Bolkenhain concentration camp. At age 18, Weissmann had already lost her brother and father and was then separated from her mother, who was sent to her death at another camp. In the play, Weissmann conveyed her hope that future generations would not endure the same suffering. Due to its popularity among prisoners, the play was performed several times. Weissmann was among the 4000 women who began a 350-mile death march through Germany. She was one of only 120 women who survived. She was liberated in 1945 by a Jewish-American soldier who had escaped Nazi Germany and moved to America. Both his parents had died in Auschwitz. Lieutenant Kurt Klein later became her husband.