Nearing towards the eradication of the Nazi movement, Gerda’s life continuously worsened. Although she remained highly optimistic, she began to run out of things to be grateful for. As she was trying to live to see the end of the war, she also tried to motivate her friends to see the Nazi’s fall with her too. When forced to spend a night lying in the snow, she told everyone not to sleep. “Wake up. You are not going to sleep!” (page 188). This shows how she not only cared for herself and her strong sense of survival instinct. It wasn’t until Ilse died that it seemed like her rebellious spirit had regressed. Yet, she still didn’t capitulate and due to her undying efforts to survive, she lived. Meeting Kurt Klein is what reestablished that undaunted
