Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland. but in just a blink of an eye, their city was invaded by Germans beginning World War II. 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. They where also forced to where the STAR OF DAVID One by one many Jews were relocated to other Jewish ghettos, work camps, and concentration camps or were killed on site He is later chosen for Deportation.

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 constant Terror and panic at what awaits him at every turn of being unsettled. mechanics early life as a 10-year-old The 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 he continues to panic, he begins to doubt his father's constant hopefulness and positivity and wonders who is really right his father or Uncle Moshi " I still worried he was wrong, but fresh bread made me forget all my troubles. For a little while, at least."(pg.25) scouting your parents for the first time is a struggle for getting especially in war-torn Poland.

"but we have only one purpose now: Survive, survive at all costs, Yanek. We cannot let these monsters tear us from the pages of the world" (pg.70). he's lost his mom, his dad, his extended family, his home. there's not a lot left and he is feeling sad and even thinks about giving himself up to the nazis, but he keeps going as he remembers his promise to himself that he will survive.

Yanek feels scared not knowing where he is in the dark of the salt as he's going through the salt mine he sees some beautiful sculptures and a cathedral made of salt and it makes him think that there can still be beauty in a world filled with evil and scaredness.

first yanek feels fury when he realizes there are way more prisoners than nazis and they could overpower them so he was mad at himself and the other prisoners. then he feels fear because one prisoner was getting beaten and did fight back and was then shot in the head and some other innocent prisoners were killed for no reason. then he feels acceptance when he sees this and he decides he won't fight back if he is going to die he will not fight back so that other innocent prisoners arent killed.

Yanek is forced at gunpoint by an SS Officer onto a cattle car where he is lucky enough to be right by a ventilation hole. this is good for him aswell as another stroke of luck. he has to stand up for days with no food or water and all he has to drink is snow that German citizens throw at them for most of the ride one of the Jews is dead and lying on him. This makes him feel like he is giving up. when he got to Birkenau they did not get out of the cattle cars for about half of a day just watching furnaces burn the other Jews after they were sent to the CREMATORIUM.

Yaneks figurative journey

Yanek goes from the lowest of low thinking he's going to die in the gas chamber shower. he starts to lose it and starts yelling at the showerhead telling the nazis just to kill him already. In the text he says, " Go on I yelled at the shower head "go on do it I dare you" I laughed again "what are you waiting for" I cried "kill me I give up you win." " (page 129). this shows how he was ready to give up and just die. Then the water comes out instead he goes from his lowest to his highest where he feels reborn and like he can do anything and he determines he has been blessed and got lucky and will survive and continue to survive.

In Yanek's literal journey, he has to go on a death march in terrible conditions. He's lucky enough to have shoes that fit him, but he has no socks, so his feet are still cold, and it feels like he's wearing ice blocks on his feet. This is luck again as most prisoners didnt have shoes. They also didn't have much food they got one half of a loaf of bread for a trip, and they had no idea how long it was. This made yanek wanna stop pushing forward. most people starved or froze to death. The only mercy the guards would show is letting them sing when he arrived at Auschwitz he was greeted with a sign that said ARBEIT MACHT FREI.

Yanek's literal journey is when he helps that boy when he's on the verge of being a museum and shot. this shows that he wants to help get as many people out alive as possible even though he knows he shouldn't. he helps him walk during the death march, but he uses up much of his energy to save the boy. once they stop walking for the day Yanek sits down and realizes he lost his bread. this makes him feel helpless like he's gonna die. He thinks about taking the boy bread who he thinks will be dead by the morning. but he doesn't die and Yaneks tries to take it. he gets caught and the boy walks away without even saying thank you.

When Yanek arrived at Bergen Belsen he was lined up with all the other prisoners and they were put into groups he got selected to survive and work. which is lucky because all the prisoners looked almost the same and yanek was no different. before they worked they were given seven days to rest and regain strength. this made yanek feel hopeful. yanek thought he could ride out the rest of the war here until he met Moon Face. Moon face was a convicted murderer and one day he saw Yanek and told him to go to him, he then punched Yanek in the face and from then on whenever Moon Face saw yanek he would hit or kick him. this makes yanek feel like he's gonna get killed by moonface and he wants to get out of the camp. Whilst he was at this camp a Jewish boy who had just turned 13 was given a BAR- MITZVAH.

When yanek arrived at Buchenwald he saw many prisoners who looked terrified. this was a sign to him that this camp was gonna be very bad. the first day he was there he hadn't noticed but one day he saw the zoo in the concentration camp. One day he sees two guards treating a buck with big antlers very poorly and they tie his antlers to the fence. that enrages yanek because the deer was so defenseless. but so was he.

Yanek has to take another train ride to Gross-Rosen He feels like giving up because there are so many dead people around him but he doesn't. once he gets to the camp they are separated and put into barracks with no resting period like Bergen Belsen. One day while Yaneks is working one of the kapos sees he's missing a button. Yanek must get 20 lashes and count them in germen; every time he messes up he has to restart and gets well over 20 lashes. this makes yanek want to just give up and it also makes it very difficult to go back to his barrack.

After a long day working yanek goes to his barrack to sleep. He wakes up in the middle of the night to a loud bang and gunshots. All through the night, these sounds keep going on. finall,y the sound stops and all the prisoners go to sleep because they think they have a hard day of work ahead of them. When they wake up on their own because no kapos came to wake them up they are confused about why. this makes yanek feel hopeful that he might be free. they start leaving their barracks and the camp is completely abandoned they see soldiers coming and they think its the nazis coming to kill them but instead it the American allies coming to liberate them.

Once Dachua gets liberated by the ALLIES, yanek and the other prisoners are relocated to Munich where they all get their own beds, shower, use a real toilet, and even get a toothbrush. this makes yanek want to cry because he's finally gonna be able to live a normal life, but how normal is it really? Yanek finds that his old neighbor from Krakow, Mrs. immerglick is there too and she tells him his cousin is there as well. yanek goes to their house where they tell him he needs to move to America as it is still not safe in Germany as there is still lots of ANTI-SEMITISM. every day until he could go to America he would go to his cousins' house. he finally goes to America and later meets someone hiding with his cousin named Luncia now named Ruth and they get married.