What Gerda wrote was real, not a writer using people's stories to create one. But when people create their own Holocaust stories, they might use Gerda's as an example because she wrote the book so well and in such detail that I thought I was there with her. I think Gerda did an amazing job writing this book and putting in so much work and detail. I concluded that I also have a different perspective on the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a horrible thing, and although I have read several books, this one was real and not sugar-coated. Now I know what the Jews and many others went through and how much they suffered. I think what surprised me the most was that the SS locked the Jews in the factory with the bomb. They had to be heartless to do something like that to someone. They generally did everything from the horrible food (bread and coffee) they gave him to the jobs they did for him (linen detail). Although it was hard for Gerda to leave the camps, at least she found her happy ending with her