Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland. but in just a blink of an eye, their city was invaded by the Germans beginning WWII. for now, Yanek and his family remain in Krakow. for a little while they stay in their flat with several other families. Anti-Semitic rules have been put in place that persecute Jewish people, taking away any rights 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, concentration camps or were killed on site.

Yanek's figurative journey

with the street of no food and constant hiding. Yanek is living in fear of being caught by the Nazis. his emotional state is one of constant 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 very normal. he attended school playing with friends and went to the synagogue with his family. he loves his mom and dad and looks up at them but as the war continues yanek begins to doubt his fathers constant hopefulness and positivity and wonders who is really right- his father or 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 me first time is a struggle for yanek especially in a war-toen poland.

yanek the day after he gets caught by the mon Goethe gets assigned a new job at roll call. this job he is assigned is outside of the camp in the salt mines. after a long ride to the mines they start to enter and they get into an elevator and go down a mile and see all of these salt statues. after see all the statues and remarks how he wishes that they would all come to life and defend him and protect him. in the text "i wished they could somehow, magically, come to life and free us". after this they have to mine salt and they see many more things and witness the beating of a prisoner.

yanek and a big group of Jews all get escorted to a cattle car as they are all shoved into it with no room to move. after they all get on yanek is lucky to be next to a vent to get fresh air. on this journey there was a lot of snow fall and that's how yanek drank water. how ever they also went by a train station and the people there said they would get gassed and turned into soap. later on the journey yanek didn't know where he was going until they passed a train with more Jew and they told them they were going to Birkenau a death camp. yaneks didn't know what Birkenau was until one of them told him it was a death camp and he gave him advice to stay under the vents there so he would die faster. when they got there they had to wait out side before they could go in as they smelt flames and burning flash from the inside.

Yanek's figurative journey

yaneks wakes up early tiered and him and a group of Jew get put on a cattle car with no room to move. he feels fearful from this and thought out the whole way there that mostly doesn't chance. however when he got there he smelt the burning of flesh and he knew what was going to happen. yanek had been through something worse then a genocide no he was going through a holocaust and he was defeated at his lowest. from the text "I laughed out loud at that, and a prisoner standing over me looked down at me like I was insane. maybe I was. the Nazis had finally broken me.

Yanek and the other prisoners were all at roll call when the Nazis told them Auschwitz needed more workers and that they would walk there. they gave them each one piece of bread which would last them the whole way however it wouldn't. as they walked through the harsh winter and passed by towns most of them died weather that be from the cold or from just being shot. however the main reasons they where still alive was for workers and no witnesses .

yanek and the rest of the prisoners were getting closer to sachsenhausen however after these long days they all grew vary tired and most of them had died. during the last part of the death march a boy around yaneks age fell onto his shoulder and help onto him. yanek being the nice person he is helped him however they were almost falling behind and that's would mean they would die by the Nazis. but when yanek is about to fall another prisoners helps him and when they get to a resting spot they all sleep. the next day the boy is fine but yanek has this deep regret that he didnt take his bread but like the other days they marched there and when they got there as soon as he got there he sleep.

yanek and his prisoners work hard at sachesenhause but when the guards got board of them they shipped them away like old toys. they got there by cattle car and like last time prisoners died and starved in the car. when they finally got there they were surprisingly threaded with bread and nice warm and meaty soup. how ever as yanek says on page 198 "even in kindness, the Nazis were cruel. every one of us woke with the most terrible stomach cramps we'ed ever had. our poor stomachs weren't used to such hearty food." his literal journey was becoming a bit brighter but even when it became bright it just got darker later with the cramps they had to endure.

yaneks was threaded poorly like he always was however they were threaded like animals. however in the camp was a zoo for the Nazis to go and see with there family's and the animals were threaded like they were rich business men. the animals got only the best of the best food unlike the Jews who got the bottom of the barrel or what was left. also if the Nazis hurt or harmed the animals they would get scolded and be punished unlike if they kill the people its fine.

while at gross cross he had to work and work like he normally did and they had no resting time unlike at Buchenwald. during his short time in gross Rosen he had to work tiredly like normal but thought out the night bombs went off with this yanek and the prisoners knew the Allies were almost there. after that they all showed up for role call and they were told they would be on another death march to Dachau.

after yet another death march they made it to Dachau and yanek was the same as he always was just trying to stay alive and live. during this period he worked the entire day like he normally did but when he was about to go to sleep he and the others heard something. they heard fun shoots artillery going of the Nazis yelling in German and this went on for hours but eventually they all fell asleep. after they woke up they say no guards no Kapos no one to wake them up and after some time the prisoners looked outside and say on one and they all went out side. when they went out side they saw soldiers approaching