Part 3: Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4 and Epilogue Summary and Analysis

The girls are overjoyed at their liberation. A US soldier, who turns out to be Gerda's future husband, Kurt Klein, tells Gerda that the Red Cross is setting up a hospital for them. At the hospital, Gerda takes a bath in warm water—her first bath in over three years. She is given new clothes and taken to a clean, warm bed. She is given her first glass of milk in three years. She begins to shake and convulse and a doctor is called in to tend to her. The doctor says to let her go. She is venting emotions that have been kept in for six years. The next day she feels like a fairy princess when she is served breakfast in bed. Doctors come by to document her personal information...