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Genre

As the title,  All But My Life: A Memoir, suggests, the work is the memoir of Gerda Weissmann Klein. It can also be classified as work of historical nonfiction.

Narator & Protagonist

Gerda Weissmann Klein is the narrator of All But My Life, and she also serves as its protagonist.

Point of View

Gerda Weissmann Klein writes in the first person, relating the events that she sees from her own point of view.

Tone

Although Gerda Weissmann Klein writes All But My Life about the Holocaust after it has taken place, her tone still conveys the sense of shock and horror she felt at the time the events she describes were occurring. Overall, however, she maintains a sense of optimism and highlights the positive experiences she has during that time.

Tense

All But My Life is written in the past tense.

Setting (Time & Place)

The main events described in All But My Life take place during 1939–1945, during World War II. The epilogue contains information about the author’s post-war life through 1995. The story beings in Gerda Weissmann Klein's hometown of Bielitz, Poland, and follows her to a series of labor camps, including Bolkenhain, Grünberg, Märzdorf, and Landeshut, which were located in Poland (and controlled by Germany during this time). The story culminates in a three-hundred–mile death march that ends in Volary, Czechoslovakia.

Foreshadowing

The author does not use foreshadowing in the traditional sense by hinting at events to come. In fact, she often does the opposite, by relating a person’s fate at the point he or she is introduced to us in the narrative.

Major Conflict

The major conflict presented in All But My Life is Gerda Weissmann Klein's struggle to survive in the face of Nazi persecution and to remain loyal to her friends, despite losing her family.

Rising Action

The rising action in All But My Life occurs when Gerda first loses her parents and then is sent to a series of slave labor camps.

Climax

The climax of the memoir is when Gerda and her friends are forced onto a three-hundred–mile death march to Czechoslovakia.

Falling Action

The falling action of the story is when Gerda is liberated by American troops, one of whom, Kurt Klein, will eventually become her husband.

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