every.single.day || Denver event photography

The ballroom, sparkling with natural splendor befitting the fancy hotel that housed it, remained silent. Save for one voice. A voice whose accent preserved her history and told her story.

There were no dry eyes to be found.

The small, wise, woman told us that on May 7, 1945, exactly 66 years before she would stand up on that stage in a fancy hotel, she was liberated by American forces.

Gerda Weissmann Klein survived the Holocaust.

She told us the story of her liberation.

“All of a sudden I saw a strange car coming down the hill, no longer green, not bearing the swastika, but a white star. It was sort of a mud-splattered vehicle but I’ve never seen a star brighter in my life. And two men sort of jumped out, came running toward us and one came toward where I stood. He was wearing battle gear…. And he said, ‘Does anybody here speak German or English?’ and I said, ‘I speak German.’ And I felt that I had to tell him we are Jewish…I was a little afraid to tell him that but I said to him, ‘We are Jewish, you know.’ He didn’t answer me for quite a while. And then his own voice sort of betrayed his own emotion and he said, ‘So am I.’ I would say it was the greatest hour of my life.

“And then he asked an incredible question. He said, ‘May I see the other ladies?’ You know, what…what we have been addressed for six years and then to hear this man. He looked to me like a young god. I have to tell you I weighed 68 pounds. My hair was white. And you can imagine, I hadn’t had a bath in years. And this creature asked for ‘the other ladies.’ And I told him that most of the girls were inside, you know. They were too ill to walk, and he said, ‘Won’t you come with me?’ And, and I said, ‘Sure.’ But I didn’t know what he meant. He held the door open for me and let me precede him and in that gesture restored me to humanity.” [source]

One year later, she and that young American soldier were married.

Mrs. Klein addressed us as the keynote speaker for the annual ENDOW Gala which I had the honor of photographing a few weekends ago.

When I signed on for the event, I had no idea how deeply it would touch me. To hear Mrs. Klein’s story, and see how attentively she engaged her audience while speaking (and during many book signings after), to see how humbly she accepted their praise, and how thorough her love is for all humanity, it enriched my soul.

She lost everything in the Holocaust. Her friends, family, life were brutally ripped from her at a young age. And yet, she not only survived, but continued to pour her love back into what seemed to be a harsh, unforgiving world.

There’s so much we can learn from that. Maintaining perspective, giving our best to the world no matter what grievances we come up against, living a compassionate life, these are all things I know I need to practice. Every. Single. Day.

Mrs. Klein reminded me that in doing so, we can achieve so much. And more importantly, give back so much.

This date marked not only her liberation and marriage anniversaries, but that of her birthday as well. (REVISED: I double-checked and turns out her birthday is actually May 8, one day later, but still!)