He is listening to his uncle say that the war will be long-term, but his father says it is going to be short, and this makes Yanek confused about whom to believe.

literal journey

Yanek and his family have to take in other Jewish families in their one flat starting a ghetto, making life unsanitary and cramped in their flat. “At least I have the hall to myself. If we had to take in another family, I thought bitterly, I’d probably have to share the hall too,” (Gratz 19).

Yanek was forced to clean up the ghetto he used to live in. If Yanek had done a good job he would have been killed by the Nazis.

Figurative Journey

Yanek is sad toward the end of being in the camp because Amon Goeth killed Yanek's uncle and close relative. His uncle Moshe. “I needed Moshe. He could help back despite his warning not to care. Who would help me now?”(Gratz 88).

Yanek thought that trying to escape would be useless. The mine was all dark, and he was unable to find a way out. Yanek wanted the giants and gnomes to save him. “Magically, come to life and free-save us. They stayed still though, frozen in salt. As trapped and helpless we were,”(Gratz 100).

Yanek is tired of being pushed around and beaten at the camp so he wants to fight back because the Jews should not be waiting but trying to win. “If we turned on them all on once, we could overcome them. We were not animals to be led to the slaughter,”(Gratz 109).

Yanek will exit his barracks to wash up and brush his teeth with water from the camp pump. The guards forced the Jews to use the dirty water or be beaten to death. “They marched us to the pumps. There were no brushes, no soap, no towels, but I was filthy from the march,”(Gratz 188).

Yanek was supprised that the gaurds wanted the Jews to take a week off to eat and regain their streangth and health. They were also shook because they had thick and rich soup with warm bread. “But it was no trick. When we got back to the barracks, we were fed the thickest, richest soup I had eaten in 6 years, and big peices of fresh bread, hot from the oven,”(Gratz 198).

Yanek and other Jews were beaten and was forced to sing tones well being strapped to a cart well pulling up rocks from place to place.“The jews were chained to the carts like a team of draught horses and whipped like animals. Only these animals were required to sing,”(Grantz 205).

Yanek after entering the showers might be gassed and killed but as this might happen yanek is screaming at the shower to kill him. Yanek is acting all crazy well in there. “I laughed out loud at that, and prisoners were looking down at me like I was insane. Maybe I was. The Nazis had finally broken me. It was all a big joke,”(Grantz 128).

Yanek is sad at the end of Auschwitz because his only friend left in the holocaust got sick and beaten to death. Yanek had to watch him get hanged. “He lifted his head for just a moment, long enough for me to see his horrified face, and then I couldn’t watch anymore,”(Gratz 163).

Yanek was beaten in the camp, When the Nazi soilder grabbed him and beat him all because he lost a button in his uniform. “You know what the penalty is for losing your button, dont you?’ The kapo said ‘Twenty lashes,” (Grantz 215).

Yanek was confussed after he went over for role call and no soliders were in the camp. The Jews thought it was a joke and were waiting for the Nazis to come kill them. “But the camp was empty. The Nazis had fled in the night! I staggered into the yard, but their I stood. I didn’t know what to do. None of us did,”(Gratz 243).

Yanek was emotional in this, Yanek gets a toothbrush a bed, and a meal where he is free. This had Yanek emotional because the simple things from his childhood brought him back to the good days. “So fortunate as to have something so simple as a toothbrush. Piece by piece, bit by bit, the Americans were giving me back my life,”(Gratz 249).