2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient - Gerda Weissmann Klein February 17, 2011

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Gerda Weissmann Klein is a Jewish Holocaust survivor. When Klein was fifteen, Nazi Germany took over Poland. In 1942, Klein was separated from both her parents, who were separately sent to Auschwitz; she was sent to the Dulag (Durchgangslager, a transit camp) and later was sent to a series of labor camps. In 1945, the inmates at Klein's work camp were sent on a 350-mile death march to avoid the advance of Allied forces. She was one of the very few who survived the forced journey. In 1998, the Kleins started the Gerda and Kurt Klein Foundation, which promotes tolerance, respect, and empowerment of students through education and community service.