WASHINGTON Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissman Klein was among 15 Americans to receive the 2010 Medal of Freedom from President Obama last week.
(A)s an author, a historian and a crusader for tolerance, she has taught the world that it is often in our most hopeless moments that we discover the extent of our strength and the depth of our love, Obama said about Klein during the award ceremony Feb. 15 at the White House.
Klein, who worked in slave labor and concentration camps until she was forced to take a 350-mile death march at the end of WW II designed by the Nazis to keep Jews from being rescued, recently founded Citizenship Counts.
It is a nonpartisan organization that is committed to educating middle- and high-school students on the tenets of citizenship, inspiring their pride in America and encouraging them to participate in community service.
Klein authored her autobiography, All But My Life, which has been in print for 53 years in 62 editions and has been read by students around the world. She has spoken about freedom and tolerance to groups throughout the world.
Shortly after 1999s Columbine High School tragedy, Kleins publisher brought her to Colorado to conduct a series of healing assemblies with Columbine students, faculty and community members.
Her prolific works include eight books and a grades 6-12 curriculum, The Path to Citizenship, which she co-authored with her granddaughter for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The Path to Citizenship teaches students about the process of becoming a naturalized citizen of the US, and even includes materials for a mock naturalization ceremony.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt established the Gerda and Kurt Klein Scholarship in 2007 to annually recognize one high school student who fosters ethnic and religious tolerance and actively minimizes bigotry within his or her community.
The scholarship commemorates Kleins humanitarian spirit, as well as that of her liberator and late husband Kurt, a former US Army lieutenant who passed away in 2002.
