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 have. 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, concentration camps, or were killed on site.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

with the stress of no food, in constant hiding Yanek is loving 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 look up at 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 his 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 the first time especially in war-torn Poland.

His journey starts when in hiding from the Nazi's when he sees sick people get shot and killed. Even after witnessing the horror of the killings, he still stood up to his uncle about leaving the pigeon coop to die and stood his ground where they then stayed safe in their coop now, he was taken to a truck, where he was being deported. Yanek was horrified the rumors of death were true, and now being deported his first concentration camp, Plaszow. In Plaszow he sees his Uncle Moshe, he gets excited and yells to Moshe, he looks up in horror at Yanek, which is when his Kapo turns back and asks who was yelling, Yanek turns after everyone else turns. As a result of Yanek's yell a man in the back is beaten by the Kapo.

He was taken from a war torn environment, where he had been worked almost to death. Then, he is sent into the salt mine where he was at peace for a moment, from the total beauty of the carvings. Sculptures of serpents, knights, and kings and queens of Poland. Until, a prisoner, a familiar man who remembers to be the former-judenrat who stole riches from his family and led the Germans around Krakow is killed by fellow prisoner(s) and had salt rubbed in his wound to purify him. This is where then, he is reminded of where he is and Yanek is haunted by the dead face of the former-judenrat, In his dreams all the faces of the statues are all the judenrat.

In the beginning of the chapter he was furious of how they were worked for fun of the Nazi's. He believed that since there were more of the prisoners than guards they should overthrow the camp no matter what guns could do to them they had numbers. Later, a prisoner who got hit with a club by a guard rebelled and fought back fighting the club from the guard and beating him with it. Yanek thought they could all start fighting, until the man was shot in the head by a soldier. The commander was furious and started picking random Jews to hang for conspiracy to rebel, a little boy was picked to die, he cried, he begged and he pleaded for mercy swearing he didn't know the man and wasn't apart of it, Yanek watched helplessly in horror as the boy's neck was snapped by the noose.

Here in Auschwitz is were Yanek was going "crazy" with trying to stay alive

Yanek was afraid because he knew if he had to work right away at Bergen-Belsen he would die, and turn into a muscleman. Luckily for him, the commandant wanted them to be strong so they could work. After their week the prisoners were back at it, doing work. Yanek was called over by a Kapo during work, and hit in the face for looking at him wrong. Moonface is his name, he learned from another prisoner he was a convicted murderer they assigned to be a Kapo. Moonface had a target on Yanek always beating him whenever he could, Yanek knew he had to get out of Bergen-Belsen no matter what. They made them race for and to see if they could work at the next camp, Yanek could work and was finally free from Moonface "for good".

In Buchenwald there is a zoo where the animals are treated better than the animals they fed nice, fat juicy, steaks while the prisoners had nutrient-lacking stew and bread. Isle Koch the Witch of Buchenwald was a horrible woman the commandant of the camp Karl's wife even worse than him. The officers were bad too they would drop bread in the carts while prisoners were pushing rock just to watch them fight over it to embarrass and diminish them, killed them if the rocks the tried to carry were so big they couldn't carry them or so small they were being too lazy. The officers families could visit the zoo, they looked at the prisoners the same way they looked at the animals... maybe, even less of animals.

A man in the camp had typhus otherwise known there as camp fever, he was sure they would all be dead within the week and he would be surprised if they didn't. All night bombs went off, close they stayed up until they got used the sounds of bombs and fell back asleep. Yanek and the other prisoners woke up to what seemed to be an empty camp they were confused and anxious that if they left the Kapos and officers would be hiding and they would beat them. That was until, they saw the tanks and soldiers of the U.S. army free them, then lead them out of the camp.

Yanek was finally free. He was not used to not sharing a bed, or having a tooth-brush which made the soldiers confused, because they were basic necessities. In the mess-hall where they all ate the prisoners were crying because they hadn't had good food in so long. Later, he saw his old neighbor, Mrs. Immerglick where they reminisced about how the last time they saw each other Mrs. Immerglick was yelling at him. She tells him how he has family still alive, his cousin Youzek and his wife, he was in shock that he had family still alive after thinking of them as these years.