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GERDA: My very clear view of freedom and liberation came that morning when I stood in this doorway
of that abandoned factory and I saw a car coming down the hill. And the reality of that
came when I saw the white star on its hood and not the swastika. There were two men in
that car. One jumped out.
KURT: I saw some skeletal figures trying to get some water from a hand pump. But over
on the other side, leaning against the wall next to the entrance of the building, I saw
a girl standing, and I decided to walk up to her.
GERDA: I remember that aura of him, of that awe, of that disbelief in daylight, to really
see someone who fought for our freedom, for my ideals. And he looked like God to me.
KURT: And I asked her in German and in English whether she spoke either language, and she
answered me in German.
GERDA: And I knew what I had to say. And I said to him, “We are Jewish, you know.”
For a very long time – at least to me it seemed very long – he didn’t answer me.
And then his own voice betrayed his emotion. He was wearing dark glasses. I couldn’t
see his eyes. He said, “So am I.”
KURT: I asked about her companions.
GERDA: He said, “May I see the other ladies?” A form of address we hadn’t heard for six
years. I told him most of the girls were inside. They were too ill to walk. And he said to
me, “Won’t you come with me?” I didn’t know what he meant. So he held the door open
for me and let me precede him. And that was the moment of restoration of humanity, of
humaneness, of dignity, of freedom.
KURT: We went inside the factory. It was an indescribable scene. There were women scattered
over the floor on scraps of straw, some of them quite obviously with the mark of death
on their faces.
GERDA: I took him to see my friends.
KURT: The girl who was my guide made sort of a sweeping gesture over this scene of devastation
and said the following words, “Noble be man, merciful and good.” And I could hardly
believe that she was able to summon a poem by the German poet Goethe, which was called,
is called, “The Divine,” at such a moment. And there was nothing that she could have
said that would have underscored the grim irony of the situation better than what she
did.
GERDA: And this first young American of Liberation Day is now my husband. He opened not only
the door for me, but the door to my life and my future.