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I had reached the summit, as I had dreamed I would in the dark years of slavery, and there, beyond the sphere of human vision, we met and embraced. We would never be alone again.

The last lines of the memoir summarize Gerda’s feelings about life and love. She believes that no matter what happens in a person’s life, there is no pain or suffering that love cannot heal. While she does not believe she will be rewarded in life just because she has suffered, she recognizes that in order to reap the rewards of a wonderful life, one must be willing to endure the pain of that life as well. Gerda has endured the suffering of the Holocaust (which she terms “the dark years of slavery”), and she now sees her love for Kurt as her reward. She believes that they are not merely engaged to be married, but that they are soul mates who connect on a level beyond what we as humans can understand—perhaps even in a place where only God makes the decisions. The idea that a power greater than either Kurt or Gerda brought them together is implied when Gerda says that they met beyond the sphere of human vision. This idea comforts Gerda, who has been through so much in the preceding years.

For a woman like Gerda, who has lost her entire family and seen how readily a person can lose everything in life, the idea that now she and Kurt will never have to be alone again is radical. Gerda knows all too well how easy it is to lose someone you love—love in itself does not protect against that loss. However, Gerda feels that her relationship with Kurt is not merely physical, but spiritual as well. Although their bodies may be taken, their souls cannot be captured, and in that sense, Gerda and Kurt will remain together forever.

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