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Ch. 1-8 Yanek's family is going through the German invasion, and these patches, are sewn onto the Jewish people's coats, so they can identify who is Jewish.

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Yaneks Journey

Yanek's Literal Journey

Yanek and his family live in Kraków, Poland. But in just a blink of an eye, their city was invaded by the Germans beginning WWII. For now, Yanek and his family all remain in Kraków. As a whole, they stay in their flat with other families. Anti-Semitic rules have been put in place that persecute Jewish people, taking away any rights that they had. Over time, walls are built up around the ghetto to contain the remaining Jews who have not been taken for resettlement or deportation yet. One by one, many Jews were relocated to other Jewish Ghettos, work camps, and concentration camps or were killed on-site.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

With the stress of no food and constant hiding, Yanek is living in fear of being caught by the Nazis. His emotional state is one of continual terror and panic at what awaits him at every turn. The unknown aspects of the war leave a feeling of being unsettled. Yanek's early life as a 10-year-old boy before the war was normal. He attended school, played with friends, and went to the synagogue with his family. He loves his mom and dad and looks up to them but as the war continues Yanek begins to doubt his father's constant hopefulness and positivity and wonders who is right-his father and Uncle Moshe. "I still worried he was wrong, but fresh bread made me forget all my troubles. For a little while, at least." (pg. 25) Doubting your parents for the first time is a struggle for Yanek especially in war-torn Poland

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Ch. 9-12 Amon Goeth was a horrible leader, killing Jews with his German Shepherds and killed them from his balconey

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Yaneks Figurative Journey

Yanek has lost everything he loves: his home, family, and friends. He is transported to a camp to see Uncle Moshe but his glee turns to shame becuase of a kapo slamming someone in the head after he yelled for Moshe. Later that day, Amon Goeth, the commandment of the camp, uses his dogs to tear apart a Jewish man, who screams and cries for help. SS officers will also be doing this later on. Yanek has to witness this at 13 years old. But Moshe trying to keep him alive says "Survive at all costs, Yanek. We cannot let these monsters tear us from the pages of the world." (pg. 70)

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Wieliczka Salt Mine, Daniłowicza, Wieliczka, Poland

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Chp. 13. The statues that you see right now are carved from the salt found in the mines. Yanek describes how beautiful they look and how there are trolls, gnomes, and more.

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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

Yanek has lost everything, and now he's forced into the mines. He is trying to stay alive but his event with Amon Goeth, Moshe dying, and him being sent to a huge salt mine. Yanek goes into the mine and recalls his time in the crawl space. The Nazis almost found him with Amon Goeth. The footsteps, the talking, the horror of Goeth's dogs ripping him apart. His fear was nearly made reality and the "Suddenly I was reminded of being under the floorboards again in Plaszów. I was squeezed underground. Trapped, in the dark, with death coming for me. (pg. 98)"

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Chp 14 The concentration camp there was run by Nazis who were disgustingly horrible. They would play games with the Jews and kill random people if were out of line

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Yanek's Figurative Journey

Yanek was angry! He wanted to revolt against the Nazis but the death he saw horrified him. Someone tried fighting back, but they were killed. Yanek thought it was only him, but the Nazis picked random people to hang. They were like chew toys for wolves, being ripped apart mentally and trapped. "We were lower than animals. They could kill as many of us as they wanted, and there would always be another trainload of us to take our place (pg. 109)."

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Birkenau, Ofiar Faszyzmu, Brzezinka, Poland

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Chp. 15-18. Yanek saw the chimney of the death camp, panicking, and then giving up thinking it was his end.

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Birkenau, Ofiar Faszyzmu, Brzezinka, Poland

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Birkenau, Ofiar Faszyzmu, Brzezinka, Poland

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Yaneks Literal Journey

Yanek was put into a train with air vents so small only rats could fit. He was driven to a train stop, freezing, suffocating, and having a dead man on his shoulder. He was dying of thirst, but when snow was near the vent, Yanek grabbed all the snow he could and gobbled it down. They got off to have people and kids yell at them, throwing snowballs. They eventually meet another train car and they say they're going to Birkenau death camp. Yanek, slowly giving up walks into the room full of nozzles, where the gas would be released.

"Kill me, I prayed, Please kill me and put an end to this. I'm ready. (pg. 129)"

Yanek's Figurative Journey

Yanek, who is already struggling with his mental stability, arrives at Birkenau's death camp. He spends hours sitting in a cramped train car, waiting to enter the camp. The anti-Semitic people did not treat them differently, especially the Nazis being harsher every day. Once inside, he feels overwhelmed with depression due to the loss of his family, friends, and everything he once owned. Finally, he snapped and started screaming and laughing. " 'Go on!' I yelled at the showerhead. "Go on, do it! I dare you!' (pg. 129)"

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Chp. 19-21. The gate of Auschwitz says "Freedom through labor" but from what we know now, the only way out of that camp, was through the chimneys of the camp.

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Yank Figurative Journey

Yanek is nothing now. An empty husk, becuase of his losses of food, people, and loved ones. He made a friend when he first got to the camp. Fred, the kid he met, was around his age. He grew up around the same area and shared many interests with Yanek. But, one day he fell ill. Unable to get up, Fred was pulled out of the barracks and hung. His face before he died, stuck in Yanek's mind as he prayed for him, telling himself never to forget. He's sad, and angry when he sees this. But he couldn't do anything. Soon, when he's on the death march, he finds his morals dying, but turning into a dead Muslman isn't an option. He kept walking, seeing people die, getting shot, and freezing to death. "The crack of guns behind us was our constant companion, and you knew you had slowed to much if the guns got too loud. (pg. 168)"

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Chp. 21-24 The tower in the photo is used for radios for people like the Nazi's.

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Yaneks Figurative Journey

Yanek has been beaten and now has to walk to another camp, nine days away, and the nazis don't care what happens to them. They only gave them half a piece of bread to last them the whole way. When they went to bed the guards were fine because they had tents and fires to stay warm at night and called it the death march. and one guard said to Yank when they got somewhere "The only way out is through the chimney" scaring Yanek.

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Chp. 24. The camp with Bergen-Belsen was where Anne Frank died while in captivity.

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Figurative Journey

Yanek was struggling with life. Not only was he in more than five camps, but with Moonface, he was beaten over and over, hit every day like a plaything. Being the perpetrator in this situation, Yanek hated him. His days were longer because of this treatment, he tried staying alive longer, and he's trying to survive. But when he arrived and got some strength back, he was grateful. "at least I had gotten away from Moonface for good." (pg. 203)

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Chp 25. The camp had a zoo for public use with bears, deer, and other animals. 

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Yaneks Figurative Journey

Yanek is now being treated worse than the animals in the zoo. The animals got steak, berries, and other food while the prisoners got stale bread, broth, and other rotten food. They had cinimas that guards could go to and soon, when Yanek was moved they said the other camp needed workers over in Gross-Rosen. This persecution has to end at some point because Yanek can't handle it. "The Nazis had killed so many of us, they were running out of Jews. (pg. 209)"

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

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Chp. 28. This camp had people whipped or punished for things such as a lost button.

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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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Literal Journey

The camp for Yanek was horrible, but the way there was worse. The train ride there was grueling, and with each new hour came a new bomb, dropping closer and closer. One of the cars was destroyed by these bombs, knocking everyone down in the cars, and more importantly, the papers were destroyed. The scapegoat plan the Nazis are playing won't work for long. "Moonface had found it in his heart to be generous once, for whatever reason. But just this once." (pg. 231)

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Chp. 29-30 The camp was horrible with each new disease spreading, Yanek luckily, didn't get sick.

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Yanek Figurtive Journey

The final camp Yanek will be at. The camp was in chaos, the Nazis were unorganized, and the camp was in ruins. One night, gunshots could be heard. They were familiar with this and didn't think anything of it. In the morning, the prisoners walked out to see no one, but they saw soldiers walking towards them. Yanek, ready to die, stayed outside while others ran to the barracks. The soldiers were not Nazis, but Allies! Yanek dropped to the ground, finally being free from this horrible fate. A soldier pulled him up and spoke in German asking for his name. "'Yanek,' I told him, 'My name is Yanek.' 'Everything's going to be alright now, Yanek,' he told me, and for the first time in six years, I believed he was right. (pg. 245)"

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Chp 30. Yanek is finally freed from Nazi grasp, like these people being helped by American soldiers

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Yaneks Literal Journey

Yanek has been confined to ten camps, including several death camps, facing the loss of nearly all his family. Every person he trusted had died, and his journey involved miles of travel marked by beatings, starvation, and horrible conditions. All he wanted was for his family to be safe but the people he loved were gone. Eventually, after 9 years, he gets liberated and taken to Munich. He meets his cousin and their wife who comfort Yanek. He saw a girl he would eventually marry and another family. He was told to go to America for jobs and freedom when he got on the boat to the USA, he was sad but left his grief behind in Germany. He was free. "For nine years I had done everything I could to survive. Now it was time to live. (pg. 256)"