Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland. But in just a blink of an eye, their city was invaded by the Germans at the beginning of WWII. For now, Yanek and his family remain in Krakow. For a little while they stay in their flat with several other families. Anti-Semetic 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 Jews Were relocated to other Jewish Ghettos, work camps, and Concentration camps or were killed on site.

Yanek's figurative language

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 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, 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 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 the first time

Yanek's Figurative Journey

After Yanek decided to stay and hide in the pigeon coop His entire family was taken to resettlement. Once he came home to see If his parents or anyone else was there they were gone. He was sad for a little bit but was wondering if he should stay in the ghetto or just go out there and ask to be taken to the concentration camps. He decides to try and survive but overall ends up being taken. At this camp, he comes to find Uncle Moshe. Uncle Moshe is not the same, he is tired and dirty from all the work in the concentration camp he explains to Yanek that he is a nobody. He will not get recognized and will not get killed and to be good but not too good at your work or else he will be killed after Yanek going through all these emotions is hard for him to understand. Once he starts to get used to his new life one night in the barracks he gets news from another prisoner that his Uncle has passed. It was tough for Yanek to see now that he was all alone.

Yanek is taken to work at the Wieliczka salt mine on floor 7. When he is taken down there, he starts to realize that he might soon become a Muslim. He is starting to get low on energy after working all day, and he is starting to become very skinny, which is not a good sign. When he was there one of the old officers from the Ghetto was there, He was a Jew. After he was mean to all of the other Jews he took the advantage to be mean to all of them, some of the Jews wanted to get back at him. The next morning everyone was on their way to work and he was found dead. Yanek started to realize how bad it was getting.

Yanek is taken to the Trzbeina Concentration camp. The guards here like to play "games", they make Yanek move heavy rocks from one place and then make him move them back. With barely any food and barely any rest, Yanek is starting to feel furious towards the guard. He wants to get revenge on the guards. One of the other prisoners had the idea to try and fight one of the guards, but he didn't realize that the guards have weapons, and they will be stronger overall than any prisoner. Once Yanek sees what happened to the prisoner he starts to feel fear. Yanek starts to feel like a sheep to slaughter, his acceptance shows how fearful he was after, he saw what could happen to him.

In order to transport Jews from one place to another they put them in train carts and made them stand for hours or maybe even days. Yanek was lucky enough to find a little hole on the side of the train to get fresh air from. There was nowhere to use the bathroom, One man even died on Yanek's shoulder. Yanek said that the train smelled like puke and urine. The train ride was a couple of days long, so many prisoners didn't make it. From the rumors Yanek had heard he was being taken to gas chambers to be killed.

Yanek's figurative journey

Yanenk was taken to the gas chambers, but he was relived when it turned out to be showers. Yanek felt a rebirth, he was having a mental break down asking for them to turn it on faster but he was refreshed to take a shower and breathe. after that they were take to Birkenau the concentration camp.

Yanek let his guard down and met a friend named Fred. They met at Birkenau when they were hiding under the floorboards. Yanek remembered Uncle Moshe's wise words but still decided it would be better not to be so lonely. Everyone in the camp was sick, but some more than others, and nobody went to the camp's doctor or you might not come back. One morning Fred got so ill that he couldn't get up for roll call. Yanek didn't want to get in trouble so he couldn't help. A little bit after Fred was hung in front of the prisoners, this did not help Yanek but only made him worse this was an emotional roller coaster for him.

Yanek had to move from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen. They walked there for days. The guards gave them a half loaf of bread, Yanek tried to save the bread for as long as he could but along the way lost the bread from his waist belt. The Nazis would make the prisoners play games. For example, they would make prisoners box each other for entertainment, and make them sing. They would make them sing for dinner and while they walked. When Yanek got to Sachsenhausen he still had to suffer from the constraint fear of death and very hard labor. He was still struggling from starvation and weakness he pushed to survive.

Yanek was picked for the strong group. Kapo ordered them to take a week off and rest to regain strength. Yanek did not first believe he was picked for the strong group but he was, they wanted them to get strong and not become Muslimen. They had been moving them to Berlin in Germany to hide from the Allies. The bombing had started to get closer and closer to the Nazis. They didn't want to get charged for war crimes so they kept moving. This was the Radio tower the Nazis used to get news to and from one another. The way they got there was by doing the Death March. This Death march could take up to 14 days or maybe even more. The prisoners would only get a half loaf of bread and little rest and no breaks. If you couldn't keep up you would be shot.

When Yanek got to this new camp something was different. There were animals there, and while the Nazi soldiers were moving around different places sometimes their families would come and look at these animals. They kept these animals on one side and the prisoners on the other. the animals were kept in an enclosed area but were treated better than the prisoners. They all thought this was unfair, They were being fed better getting better rest it just wasn't fair if anyone said anything though they could risk the chance of dying. They would make prisoners still do lots of labor to fight the war while barely being fed any food.

Yanek was taken by train cart to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp. many people died or got very ill from the train cart ride. At this camp Yanek had to work very hard, they started to hear bombings from other places. Hoping that the Allies would get closer and closer to them. Yanek was hoping the end of the war would come soon and The Allies would defeat the Nazis. Yanek was very lucky not to get shot but he did get 20 Lashes. Lashes are when the Kapos will whip you if u do not do something. Yanek got whipped 20 times for not being able to find something and Yanek stood out to the Kapo and he got mad.

Yanek has struggled to make it. This is almost the end the bombings kept getting closer and closer and so did the Allies. they had to work and work and more people kept dying. One morning they woke up and all the guards were just gone. They had just left, they didn't know if it was some sort of trick or if it had all finally ended. The allies had arrived, They had finally come and saved Yanek, they had been through all this trauma and had made it. they all started crying when they finally got the necessities, the allies didn't know why nobody could understand what they had been through Yanek couldn't believe what had happened he was so relieved all the pain and struggle had gone away.

Yanek was taken here to have a home. The Allies had taken all the prisoners here. They all felt a rush of emotions they couldn't believe what had happened neither could Yanek. They got the basic necessities they didn't have to suffer anymore. They all thanked the Allies for saving nobody could really understand what they had to go too. Yanek never really appreciated his old life things but now he wished he did more. he finally realizes what it is to be grateful. Yanek moved to America he did get drafted to the U.S. Army and fought in the war but after that, he finally got to live a happy life.