The following Sunday, Julius accompanied Gerda to the cemetery, where Abek appeared and engaged him in Hebrew conversation. Julius was excited that Abek had a book that he wanted to read. At home, Julius told Gerda that he believed Abek cared for her but advised her to prolong her childhood as much as possible and avoid making major decisions during the war. When Abek brought the book, Gerda deliberately stayed away.

In early October, a smuggled note from Arthur arrived confirming his safety. In her happiness, Gerda was kind to Abek, and he began visiting almost daily, bringing books and writing letters. Her parents approved of the friendship. In late October, a direct letter arrived from Arthur stating that he was working in a chemical plant.

In November, Ilse was ordered to surrender her piano to a policeman. Heartbroken, she asked Gerda to hear her play it one last time. At Ilse’s house, Gerda held Ilse’s little sister, Kitty, before Ilse played in the dark. Abek arrived quietly and sat beside Gerda; he then offered to walk her home via a new route to avoid German soldiers, who required Jews to step off sidewalks and remove their hats.

During the walk, Abek told her about his Orthodox Jewish upbringing and his inner conflict, quoting a Hebrew poem about his unhappiness. He confessed his love and asked her to promise to marry him after the war, revealing that he had already written to his parents, who approved. Overwhelmed, Gerda said that she needed time and had to speak to her parents. In her room, she realized that she didn’t love Abek; she felt that he lacked the strength and happiness she desired.

She told her parents that she would refuse him. That night, she overheard them discussing the proposal; Helene correctly intuited that Gerda didn’t love him because she wasn’t happy. The next day, unable to refuse him outright, Gerda told Abek that they should continue as friends and not speak of love until after the war. As they parted, he briefly embraced her tightly. When she cried out, he immediately released her and walked away. His sudden outburst of emotion and abrupt departure made him seem more desirable to her, and she was sorry to see him go. He returned moments later to give her a book of Chinese love poems.

Weeks passed, and Gerda continued to see Abek daily, their friendship strained by his unspoken hope. In December, Gerda received a letter from Erika, a former classmate who resembled her in appearance. Erika wrote that she was in love with a man named Henek and wanted to marry him against her parents’ wishes. Gerda noted that Erika was truly in love, whereas she was not.

Abek told Gerda that he may go home for Christmas. When she expressed certainty that he would go, Abek said that he believed in her intuition. Before leaving, he gave her a book containing his picture and an underlined sentence about time settling what the heart cannot. He returned after only four days, claiming that he couldn’t stay away. Her parents were displeased that he left his own family. Abek pressed Gerda for an answer, believing that his return proved her love. After he left, Julius expressed disapproval of her reluctance, angering Gerda. She now recognizes, however, that her anger reflected her own frustration on her ambivalence toward Abek.

In early 1942, Gerda’s great-uncle died. A second letter arrived from Erika graphically describing a massacre in her town. She recounted how her mother and baby brother were taken while she and her father hid in the basement. She learned that the town’s Jews were taken to the market square, trampled by horsemen. The survivors were then marched out of town, forced to dig their own graves, and shot. Erika described finding the bodies of her mother and her beloved Henek in the mass grave. The letter ended with Erika describing feeling dead and being filled with a desire for revenge. After the letter, Gerda never heard from Erika again.

For two weeks, Gerda hid her worry about Arthur and the contents of Erika’s letter from her parents. She confided in Abek, reading him the letter. He comforted her, and feeling close to him, she accidentally called him by her brother’s name. Abek became rigid and hurt, seeing it as an insult. The next morning, a letter arrived from Arthur with a new address.

On April 19, 1942, all Jews in Bielitz were ordered to move into a ghetto near the railroad terminal within two days. Helene was devastated at leaving her ancestral home. On the morning of the move, Gerda visited Niania to say goodbye. She briefly resented Niania’s security before they shared a tearful embrace. Gerda went into her beloved garden one last time, reliving childhood memories. She picked violets and sat on a familiar tree branch, bidding farewell to her childhood.

Back in the cellar, Niania had come to see them off despite the danger. A horse-drawn wagon arrived to take their few belongings. Niania tearfully said goodbye to Helene and Julius. The family followed the wagon down the street. Julius carried the pot of chives containing their hidden jewelry, and Gerda clutched the violets. Julius and Helene didn’t look back at their home, but Gerda did.

The family moved into one room in the ghetto, sharing quarters with the Kolländer family. The ghetto consisted of a few buildings around a courtyard housing about 250 Jews, mostly old and sick. Many others lived in a large armory-like building nearby. Gerda describes their neighbors: the Kolländers, the Freudenreichs, a mother with twin girls, and a woman with a mother dying of cancer. Rumors of deportation to Auschwitz circulated constantly.

During a ghetto sweep, a Gestapo man burst in and interrogated Gerda about her father while Julius hid in the wardrobe. The officer pressed a pistol to Gerda’s chest, threatening to shoot her. A horn signaled that the intended target had been found elsewhere, and the officer rushed off. Julius collapsed in pain afterward, and Gerda gave him an emergency pill that his doctor had left. He asked Gerda not to tell Helene and whispered that his only wish was for the survival of her and Arthur.

On May 8, Gerda’s 18th birthday, Helene gave her an orange purchased by trading a valuable ring. Abek brought a portrait of Arthur that he painted as well as roses. Her friends visited with gifts. A notice then ordered all able-bodied Jews to register for work or be sent to Auschwitz. Julius was assigned to work in Sucha, where a camp was being formed, while Gerda and Helene were assigned to a sewing shop in Wadowitz. Helene was soon let go, but Gerda enjoyed her work and the train rides.

On a Sunday in early June, Abek took Gerda for a walk in the forest and again asked her to marry him; she didn’t answer. The following Friday, Gerda and Ilse overheard men on a train platform say that deportations would hit Andrichau that day and Bielitz on Monday. Julius confirmed their fears: The ghetto would be liquidated. He had to report to Sucha on Sunday; Gerda and Helene would be moved to Wadowitz on Monday.

Gerda overheard her parents’ final conversation, in which they reminisced about their life together and spoke lovingly of their children. The next morning, Julius insisted that Gerda wear her heavy skiing shoes for her journey. Gerda, though bewildered, obeyed; in retrospect, this order saved her life. The family walked Julius to the train station for a final goodbye. As the train departed, Julius stood on the rear platform, looking at them. Gerda never saw him again. That night, Gerda regretted pulling away when her grieving mother sought comfort.

On Monday morning, Helene made Gerda some of their precious cocoa while continuing her weekly fast. They already retrieved their last jewels from the chive pot and sewed them into their clothes. A whistle summoned them. Downstairs, they witnessed brutality as the sick and elderly, including young twin children who smiled and obliviously caught raindrops, were thrown onto a truck. An SS man shot a dog trying to follow its owner into a truck.

The remaining Jews were marched to a field and forced to wait in the rain before being paraded through town. In a meadow, the selection began, overseen by Moses Merin, head of the Jewish council, who drank schnapps and shared it with SS men. Helene nearly collapsed; Gerda took the suitcase and learned that Arthur’s photo was inside. When Gerda asked Merin about their destination, he called her “crazy.” As they marched forward gripping their work cards, an indifferent SS officer separated Gerda from Helene with a cane. Gerda was sent to the labor side, and Helene was sent to the side for those unfit for labor. The parents, including Helene, were herded into a barbed-wire enclosure and stripped of valuables. Gerda saw a couple choose to go with their baby to the death side rather than be separated.

As Gerda was loaded onto a truck, she screamed for her mother and jumped off. Merin forcibly threw her back, saying, “You are too young to die” (91). As the truck pulled away, Gerda heard her mother’s voice call out, “Be strong!” These were her mother’s last words to her.