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 stress of no food, and consistent hiding, Yanek is living in fear of being caught by the Nazis. His emotional state is one if content 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 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 the first time is a struggle for Yanek especially in war-torn Poland.

After Yanek was deported from the chicken coop, forced to work, and discovered that his family was murdered by the Nazis, he was left at a shallow point and kept wondering if he should keep going or just give himself up to the Nazis. Despite these feelings, Yanek became determined to keep living and not give himself up to the Nazis to honor his parents. Uncle Moshe was the only one left alive keeping Yanek determined for his will to survive. In the book, it states, "Your parents, Oskar and Mina. They are dead and gone now, Yanek, and we would grieve for them if we could. But we have only one purpose now: Survive." (pg. 70) Leaving Yanek determined to survive honoring his family and parents.

Yanek traveled from Plaszow Concentration Camp to the Salt Mine in Poland. This for Yanek is very scary and he experiences much fear. At first, he is experiencing much anxiety during the cattle car ride there and in the elevator at the shaft in the salt mine. Throughout his shift working there, he discovers it is a beautiful place compared to the places he came from the ghetto and other camps. Throughout working one of the former Judenrats ends up dead with salt rubbed into his cuts symbolizing that someone was 'cleansing his soul' for the sins he had committed as a Judenrat.

Yanek went through many emotions throughout the journey to Trzebinia like fury, fear, and acceptance. At first, he was distressed that thought that they were driving them out to a forest to kill them but that didn't make sense due to the thought that they could've just killed them there, so he just waited for the ride to be over. When they arrived, Yanek felt fury with the Nazis as they teased the Jews pushing them to travel back and forth as they moved heavy ragged rocks that cut and bruised them. He became mad and made sure to himself that he wouldn't let them kill him without a fight. But when a conflict happened with another Jewish prisoner that caused him to get hung and die. Yanek changed his mind, he ensured that when it was his time he wouldn't cause more pain to others by using conflict as an act of acceptance for his death.

Yanek's journey from Trezbinia to Birkenau is crowded and gross/unsanitary. Yanek described the smell of throwup and waste when he entered the train. Throughout the train ride, the guy next to him starts leaning against him only for Yanek to realize he was dead. All of the rest of the ride Yanek had to deal with the dead man leaning on him and the smell of waste as they drove for hours upon end.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

As Yanek got to Birkenau, he was at his lowest point in the story. As he was in the shower room, he started to go crazy. Practically wanting the shower to let out the gas and end him and laughing at the possible solutions in his head as to why the showers wouldn't turn on. But later, when the icy water comes out of the shower head he feels like he was re-birthed and he starts to regain himself and his determination starts to grow again. At the young boy's bar Mitzvah Yanek gives him a hint of determination as well, as he tells the young boy the motivational message Uncle Moshe told him when Yanek was giving up.

During this journey in chapters 19-22, Yanek meets a kid around his age named Fred. They bonded immediately due to them having the same lifestyle and having to do the same labor and work. They talked about the food they would like if they were free. Eventually, Fred got sick. Day by day his sickness had gotten worse and worse to the point he couldn't even get out of bed. Yanek tried helping Fred but when a Kapo entered the room another Jew told Yanek to leave with him so he wouldn't get beaten as well. During role-call, Fred was dragged and hung in front of all the other Jewish prisoners. This impacted Yanek deeply, leaving him choking back tears and saying a prayer that night in honor of Fred.

Yanek and other Scapegoats had to do the death march to Sachsenhausen. It took them around 13 days to get there. Yanek had to eat snow when he was hungry and or thirsty. During the death march, Yanek ended up seeing a kid falling behind during the march very obviously sick and not doing well. So, Yanek stepped in putting him under his arm and carrying him along. After days of helping the boy they finally reached the new camp, and Yanek realized that the last of his food was now missing leaving Yanek in a pretty bad situation.

In Bergen-Belsen, Yanek could've survived with the rich full food they fed them. But due to the rude guard that the Jewish prisoners nicknamed Moon-face that targeted Yanek. Every time Moon-face saw Yanek he would beat and kick or punch him. This made Yanek want to get out of Bergen Belsen and the only way to do that was to 'race' to prove they were strong enough to work somewhere else. Luckily, Yanek proved he was strong enough to work and transfer to another work camp.

This concentration camp was one of the harder ones compared to the others. The Nazis had the Jews move and break down rocks. However, if the rock was too small they would call them weak and kill them. But if the rock was too big and they dropped it they would shoot them. This quote in the book relates to how many Jews were killed during the war for little reasons like that, "The Nazis killed so many of us they were running out of Jews." (pg. 209) They also talked about how the animals were treated better than them in the camp.

All the surviving Jews were shipped off to Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp by train. During the train ride Yanek was mentioning how death was so normal now and how he was almost used to it. At this point, this was the 10th concentration camp he had been shipped off to with the other Jews that had survived. At the end of this chapter Yanek and others had started the 2nd death march where he thought it would be the end for him.

On the train ride from Gross-Rosen to Dachau the train car with the documents and records about all the prisoners gets blown up from bombs shipped from the American allies. After they arrive at Dachau, Yanek decides because the files/documents of each prisoner were destroyed, that it would be easy to act as a Polish prisoner rather than a Jewish prisoner. With that, he ripped the Star Of David off his sleeve and went into the crowd of Polish prisoners. The Nazis end up noticing Yanek in the crowd of Poles because one of the other Jewish prisoners had seen what happened and called him out for no reason. With that, the Nazis pushed him back into the crowd of Jews.

After getting liberated by the American troops, Yanek was confused and left in a slump about what to do next because he had been so used to being told what to do by the Nazis and guards. Another thing about being liberated is that all his known family is gone leaving Yanek alone and with no one. One day, he ran into Mrs. Immerglick his old neighbor in Krakow, who informed him he still had a cousin that was still living. He immediately went to visit his cousin and found out that his cousin's wife and kids were also still alive. In the end, his cousin told him that he should go to America. Which he did, after 2 years of getting his papers and necessary documents to travel together.