Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland but in just a blink of an eye their city was invited 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 were killed on site

Yaneks Figurative journey

With the stress of no food and consent 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 early life as a 10-year-old boy before the war was very normal he attended school played with friends and went to the synagogue with his family he loves his mom and dad and looks them up but as the war continues Yanek begins to doubt his father's constant hopefulness and positivity and wonders who is really right his father 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) routing your parents for the first time is a struggle, Yanek, especially in war-torn Poland.

Yanek and some other Jews were put to work by taking a big pile of rocks and they would carry them from one side of the field to another side and the Nazis would beat them if they were too slow or if they thought they were carrying a rock to small. Yanek is carrying the rock struggling when he's crying out of pain but he just has to have acceptance so he wouldn't get even more hurt On page 107 Yanek says " I tried to not let the nazis see how afraid i was they were like amon goeth dogs they could smell fear" Yanek continues to carry the rocks and from fury, he fumed and he hefted the stone

In Chapters 19-22 on page 155 chapter 20, some prisoners wouldn't wake up or they were dead or dying, and every time a prisoner would fake being dead they would beat their body to make sure that they were dead. There was a boy maybe one or two years older than Yanek he was another prisoner on page 156 the boy said to Yanek "Go through his pockets" Yanek was surprised by his words and the boy said "See if he has any bread on them" The boy introduced himself as Fred and he asked what yaneks name was yanek hesitated before he said his name was Yanek. Both Fred and Yanek share some similar things

As Yanek was being transported to a new concentration camp. Gross rosen. The nazis forced Yanek to be transported in a train a crowded train yanek closed his eyes and described his train ride as being surrounded by death everywhere he went as he closed his eyes he was ready for death he was so prepared for death that he told himself that he would become like all the other dead bodies that surrounded him on the train but he pushed through and stayed strong and lived to see another day.

Yanek and his family continued to stay in the pigeon coop with all 12 of the family members while everyone was crying while the loudspeakers were telling everyone to get out of their homes Uncle Moshe says "We should go" (Chapter 7 Page 52) Yanek disagrees and thinks everyone should stay put where they are but uncle Moshe thinks they should leave. On page 53 Yanek had enough and said "Go if you want to leave so badly If you want to hand yourself over to those killers" In chapter 9 The nazis snatched up Yanek while he was at work when he was in the tailor shop he got to the camp and saw a familer face It was uncle Moshe! "Uncle Moshe!" "Uncle Moshe!"

When Yanek and all the other prisoners arrived at the new camp yanek looked at all the other prisoners and they looked terrified yanek was assigned to the stone quarry and he was told to carry them up a long hill he had to carry the big rocks on his back with his arms behind to hold the rock up and they would kill you if your rock was to big and you dropped it or if you took a rock to small they would shoot you picking the right stone became a competition

Yanek met the man who invaded his home in Krakow, Poland. Yanek remembered a familiar face who traumatized him and his family, Holtzman. (Gratz pgs 101-102), "Of course! That's why I remembered him! How could I have forgotten that face? He was the man who had brought the Nazis to my flat, the one who had stolen everything from us while the Nazis took my mother's ring... I've been so scared, So protective, that I hadn't even felt anger." Yanek and his family, specifically his mom felt so scared that they could not help themselves fight back against Holtzman.

They were finally retrieved by the Americans and there was no guards to be found and no orders to complete by them the only people that were there were the Americans and they helped the prisoners including yanek and other prisoners the Americans found them and said that they were going to be okay now the Americans took the prisoners out of the camp and they brought them back somewhere. They had a big feast of food and some prisoners started crying because they hadn't had a normal life forever after their big feast of food Yanek and the other prisoners got their own beds and Yanek was shocked knowing that he didn't have to sleep with anybody and got his own bed and the guard helped him and gave him a toothbrush something that he has been thinking about when he lost necessary things and was happy for how he was going to be okay now

Yanek got put on the cattle wagon and traveled long hours to Birkenau when he was in the wagon. Yanek described the sky as looking red like a bonfire when he was moving. He saw black chimneys standing up like silhouettes glowing in the sky. Yanek was terrified of the crematorium.

When Yanek got to Bergen Belson he arrived with fresh bread and soup, the Nazis wanted the Jews to eat a lot of food so they could fatten them up so they would be strong enough to work. The Nazis let the Jews stay off work for at least a few weeks so they could regain strength and work again.

Three days later, Yanek arrives at Sachsenhausen camp. Luckily, the Nazis do not make the prisoners work immediately, instead sending them to the barracks with soup and bread. At night, even though Yanek shares a bed with five other men, he falls asleep instantly, grateful to be out of the cold. The next day, Yanek sees that the camp is filled with corpses stacked on top of each other. Yanek washes at the pump, and he remembers out of the blue the first day his mother brought home a toothbrush for him. He marvels at how amazing it is to own this simple object.

When Yanek arrives at Dachau, he discovers that typhus is raging through the camp. Prisoners are dying by the hundreds, and the Nazis do nothing to treat them. Yanek thinks that it is a miracle that he does not get sick. The one reprieve is that the prisoners do not have to work, and some days they don’t even have roll call. The war is coming to an end; the Germans are only moving the prisoners around to avoid the Allies.