Tripp Holder, Section 2

This last section of the book I found more disturbing than the first. When Gerda moved to the first working camp where she began to spin yarn, I thought she would have a relatively easy time until she was liberated. Unfortunatly I was wrong and from that point on, the conditions became progressively worse, climaxing at Marzdorf where she has to work both day and night shifts. With no time for rest, it is unimaginable to me how she continued no at all. One of the only happy parts of this section was the plays that Gerda organized to be performed at night. During the march, I found it very surprising that girls would go as far as to steal boots off of the very girls they were marching with. One of the most statisticly surprising parts of this section was when Gerda states that of the 4,000 girls that started the march, only 120 survived. Unfortunatly, none of Gerda's close friends were in these 120. When Gerda meets Kurt, I could tell that it would be something we would be hearing more of. Gerda's recovery in the hospital, I thought, was very amazing. After years of malnutrition and months of hard work with little rest, Gerda was forced to march in the bitter cold where she contracted two deadly diseases and nearly loses her feet; after all this, she still manages to make a full recovery and that is evident to this day.