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Ch 1-8, Yanek and his family are treated as prisoners in their town. They are forced to live with several other families in their flat.

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Yanek's Literal Journey

Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland, but their life drastically changes as the Germans infiltrate their city. As Yanek and his family have avoided being deported away for resettlement and being murdered so far, their living situation soon deters to having to take in 4 other families in their flat. The German's anti-Semitic rules took away any economic and normal rights Jews had, making them almost incapable of making money and purchasing food and resulting in having to use ration cards. As despair and fear soon fall over the Jews, walls are built to keep in the remaining those who have survived so far, taking away the little freedom they had left, and making them feel like prisoners.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

With the constant state of anxiety due to the effects of the war such as the scarcity of food, constant hiding, and living situation, Yanek's mindset is mainly based on surviving, this mindset of survival causes him to become cautious of everyone and everything, making him uneasy and fearful at all times due to the war. Yanek's normal life before the war consisted of attending school, playing with his friends, and practicing his religion, the aspect of discrimination against Jews being unaware of Yanek at the time. As the war continues, Yanek soon begins to doubt his father's optimistic thinking as the war continues to oppress them and Yanek's hope lessens and his doubt grows, Yanek becomes in conflict with himself because of his indecisiveness about who is right, his father or Uncle Moshe.

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Ch 9-12 Camp prisoners being forced to work and the barracks are where the prisoners lived.

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Yanek's Literal Journey

Yanek soon becomes transported to Plazów when he was working at his tailor shop, his job becomes the reason for his deportation due to the tailor shop at Plazów needing more workers. Yanek and other grieving fearful Ghetto citizens are soon forced into a truck and brought to a nearby camp, Nazis stood outside the trucks with machines gun and Yanek's determination to survive is soon overpowered by his fear to die. As Yanek arrives at the camp he is assigned to a tailor shop at camp to work.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

So far Yanek has experienced terrible grief of being stripped of his family, freedom, and home. As Yanek is given his prisoner uniform he feels defeated as he is now truly a prisoner, once directed to the tailor camp by a kapo, Yanek soon discovers Uncle Moshe, and he is filled with a surge of hopefulness and calls out his name, resulting in another man in other man facing the harsh consequences in where Yanek then learns the unspoken rules in the camps to survive and he feels determined to survive but also defeated amidst the harsh conditions where he is persecuted.

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The gallows were a system in which the Nazis hung the Jews. Ch 14-15

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

After working at the salt mine Yanek and other prisoners are transported to another camp in Trzebinia, Yanek describes the work assigned to them as dehumanizing and vindictive, along with having to endure the pain of working silent or face the consequences. For instance, the book states, "Wieliczka had been hard, but Trzebinia was worse, because at Trzebinia the Nazis played games. The Nazis were making us work just to work. This was all a game to them, like a hand of cards or a soccer match. We were the ball, to be kicked around for their sport." (page 108) This thought that Yanek has shows the feeling of frustration and injustice that he must repress due to the risk of getting killed.

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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Daniłowicza, Wieliczka, Poland

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A pickaxe is the tool Yanek was provided with to mine salt. Chapter 13

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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Daniłowicza, Wieliczka, Poland

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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Daniłowicza, Wieliczka, Poland

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As Yanek is transported down to the salt mine in an elevator with other prisoners, their Kapo leads them around the mine and Yanek is soon placed in a state of awe amidst the dehumanizing acts of the war due to the sight of dazzling salt statutes and mesmerizing chandeliers. For instance, the novel states, ¨After so many months and years of dirty streets and peeling paint, of gray uniforms and spartan barracks, it was astounding that there could still be beauty in the world. Especially here, a mile underground." (page 100). Yanek's time and labor consisted of mining chucks of salt with a pickaxe all day long, his hunger from the exhausting labor being sustained with bland meals of stale bread, coffee, and broth.

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The cattle cars the prisoners had to travel in. Chapters 16-18

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Yaneks Literal Journey

Yanek soon becomes transported to the Birkenau camp when he is on his way to his work detail, but to Yanek's surprise the vehicle transporting them is not a train but a cattle car, many other prisoners are soon forced inside where Yanek moves towards the ventilation grate to be able to breathe better. After a long and laboring journey from Trzebinia to Birkenau, Yanek, and other prisoners still lay waiting in the cattle car after their arrival, the aroma of burning flesh fills the air due to the furnaces killing the last train of prisoners and hopeless fear is instilled in Yanek and the prisoners as they await their nearing death. For instance, the text says, "Black Chimmineys stood up in silhouette against the glowing sky, shooting flames from their tops, and the smell of burning flesh filled the air. I gagged" (page 124) This evidence shows the chimney that awaits Yanek, and how the Nazis taunted them, forcing them to wonder when they will face their death in the Crematorium.

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The sign at the entrance of Auschwitz that says "Work will set you free" Chapters 19-20

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Yanek's Literal Journey

As Yanek and other prisoners are transported and forced to march from Birkenau to Auschwitz, he is met with a taunting sign that says Arbeit Macht Frei, or Work makes you free.

Yanek soon encounters the new prisoners who stare at the veteran prisoners such as Yanek with horror and disgust, for instance, the text says "They looked at us with wide eyes, and pulled their children away from us" (page 147) This shows how the prisoners are unknowing of what soon awaits them as the Nazis continue to feed lies and tricks to them because the new prisoners are unfamiliar to their lying attributes are gullible to their tactics of instilling false hope. Yanek and the prisoners are soon placed in a line to meet their fate decided by Josef Mengel or The angel of death, an infamous German doctor. Yanek sees a new prisoner foolishly give too much information about him and his family, causing him to be separated from them while his wife and child are sent to the gas chambers. As Yanek goes to his barracks he discovers the mothers sing lullabies to the mothers and children awaiting their deaths.

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The death march the Nazis forced the Jews to do Chapter 21-23

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As the Nazis cruelly force the prisoners to march long distances in harsh conditions with little to no food for the journey, Yanek is filled with a small amount of hope as he leaves the camp, recalling the nazi officer who taunted the prisoners saying the only way to leave the merciless camp is through death. As Yanek's laboring march continues, his hope dims and he feels a sense of remorse as he sees a boy who reminds Yanek of his late friend Fred, this sense of guilt urges Yanek to help the near-dying boy even with the fragile state of Yanek's mind and body and soon enough another prisoner assist Yanek in carrying the prisoner and he feels a surging sense of gratitude and thanks towards him. Once Yanek is finally able to rest, he experiences a sense of conflict within himself as one part of himself says the boy is nearly dying and one part of him says the boy is still human as he tries to decide on whether to succumb to the selfish part of him who wants to survive and steal the boy's bread, or continue helping him. For instance, the text says, "I needed that bread to live, and I was going to take it. The boy owed me, after all. He was only alive because I had helped him" (183) This shows how the war has stripped Yanek of the empathetic qualities he once possessed and turned him into flesh and bone simply trying to survive.

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The Barracks at the Bergen-Belsen camp, Chapter 24

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As Yanek is transported to Bergen-Belsen, Yanek is stunned as the commandment announces that the prisoners get one week of rest and are fed nutritious meals as well, Yanek gains a small bit of hope, believing that he might have another chance of surviving, for instance, the text says, "Maybe Bergen Belsen really was better than all the other camps. Maybe this was the place I could survive until the war ended." (page 198) But Yanek's hope is dimmed down after the meal due to the prisoners having terrible stomach pains due to the hearty meal and Yanek soon realizes the Nazis are ruthless even when in kindness. As Yanek gets put back to work he encounters a vindictive-looking kapo called Moonface, Moonface soon takes an interest in Yanek and strips Yanek of hope of surviving as he relentlessly continues to torture Yanek physically and mentally. Yanek believed he would have survived at Bergen-Belsen but Moonface dimmed Yanek's hope as he took brutal beatings from him and Yanek was determined to escape, for instance, the text says "Bergen Belsen might have been the place for me to survive until the end of the war, but for Moonface. I had to get away from him." (page 200) This shows how Moonfaced stripped Yanek's hope and determination.

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The zoo at the Buchenwald Camp. Chapter 25

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

Yanek is transported to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where merciless death surrounds him as he does tiring work. Yanek is soon accustomed to death taking the prisoners around him, where he once might have been afraid or empathetic at the death surrounding him, it now no longer bothers him. As Yanek is washing, he encounters two SS guards taunting and luring a deer to be tied to the fence, this act of cruelty against an innocent animal awakens something in Yanek, and suddenly feels a sense of rage and empathy for the deer, later on, Yanek discovers the SS officers were scolded for harming the animal. For instance, the text says, "Cruelty to prisoners the Nazis could abide. But not cruelty to animals" (page 209) This evidence shows how Yanek and the other prisoners are seen as less than animals, having to endure being scapegoats for the Nazis.

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Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoznica, Ofiar Gross Rosen, Rogoźnica, Poland

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The 10th camp in which Yanek stayed in. Chapter 26

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Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoznica, Ofiar Gross Rosen, Rogoźnica, Poland

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Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoznica, Ofiar Gross Rosen, Rogoźnica, Poland

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As Yanek is soon transported to another camp by train like livestock, the trip takes a mental toll on him as they are transported amidst the war, the sounds of bombs and bullets surrounding them from the Nazis fighting the Allies. These acts of war tear a bit of hope from Yanek, in where he wishes the bombs would fall on him and end this endless torture that he is experiencing but as they arrive at the camp, Yanek's survival instincts kick in, where he has to use his understanding of the Nazis ruthless rules to one day experience the life that lives outside the ruthless war. For instance, the text says, "If it was a game, then I had my own part to play; the Nazis would try to kill me, slowly, randomly, teasingly, and I would resist. I would work. I would survive. If the Nazis were going to play their game, so was I." (page 214) This shows how even amidst his small moment of hopelessness, his determination to survive would override it.

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Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Alte Römerstraße, Dachau-Ost, Germany

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The american tank Yanek saw when he was liberated. Ch 29

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Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Alte Römerstraße, Dachau-Ost, Germany

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Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site, Alte Römerstraße, Dachau-Ost, Germany

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As Yanek arrives in Dachau, the prisoners are dying all around him as camp fever or typhus infects them, but to Yanek's surprise, the illness that brought death so quickly has spared him. As the allies near, the camp soon becomes chaotic and one night the sound of war awakes the prisoners in the barracks, the sound of it so close it is deafening as panic seizes Yanek and he is faced with a sense of freezing panic as he prays for deaths merciless grip to spare him. Soon he sees soldiers and suddenly he believes that his life will end after everything he's been through to survive but soon he realizes he's being liberated. He is filled with such deep joy and sorrow that he falls to his knees, finally being able to relish in the feeling of freedom and the sorrow of losing the life he once had. For instance, the text said, "The grim reality set in. We were free, but we were still Jews in a land that hated us, that had stolen everything we owned and had taken our families and put us in camps and gasses us and cremated our bodies." (pg 244) This shows how although Yanek has been liberated, he will never be the same person he was before, for the Nazis have stripped him of all that he was before, but still, Yanek had hope and determination that he will continue to fight, fight to find joy again and rebuild his life, along with himself.

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Jack Gruener showing his prisoner tattoo to children.

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

As the Allies transport the prisoners to Munich, they are provided with basic human necessities that the Nazis stripped from them in the war, this act of basic human kindness is shocking to Yanek and the prisoners due to the dehumanizing and traumatizing acts they experienced amidst the war. As Yanek is provided with a real meal he realizes that although he is free from the torturous camps, the Nazis will always have a hold on him physically and mentally, such as the trauma and PTSD that Yanek will face in the future and the life with his family that Yanek once had will never be the same. As he was once surrounded by so much death, his vow to never forgot those the nazi have taken away from him will always be in his heart. For instance the book states, "The dead would always be with me, I knew, even when I was surrounded by life again, even if the Americans gave me back all the objects I had lost." (page 144) This evidence shows how the damage the Nazis had done will always be with him. Although he is free, the physical and mental scars Yanek bears will always remind him of the hope he fought to keep so fiercely within the torturous camps.