Yanek and his family live in Krakow Poland. But in just the blink of their eye, their city was invaded by the Germans beginning WWII. For now, Yanek and his family remain in Krakow. For a little while 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 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. Yaneks 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 wonder 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.

Yaneks figuratives journey starts off with his home getting taken and raided by the Nazis they were lucky enough to survive because of yanek's strong and confident emotions towards staying hidden. After that big shock Yanek's family and relatives all were taken away and potentially killed. In the camp he gets transported to he find the only one left in his family, Uncle Moshe. he says to him "'but we only have one purpose now survive, survive at all costs Yanek we cannot let these monsters tear us from the pages of the world'" he is probably feeling a little bit of joy to know that he's not the only one. but that little spark of joy gets blown out by seeing the violence to other Jews in the camp, created by Amon Goeth.

Yaneks literal journey started by getting moved onto a truck with 50 other people. They were transported to an underground salt mine. He was guided around to see the place he would be working at. He saw a cathedral with really old statues and sculptures. He says "I wished they could somehow magically come to life and free us-save us. They stayed still though frozen in salt as trapped and helpless as we were."(pg. 100) He goes through tunnels and chambers and ends up working level 7 room 45.

Yanek's figurative journey starts with worry and fear and A little curiosity as he is being transported from a salt mine to another concentration camp. When he gets there he finds out that the workers are even more harsh and they like to mess around with the Jews brutally. Yanek gets angry at this. he is furious at the fact that the guards just want to play games with him and all the Jews. They are just making them work just to work. Yanek wants to fight back knowing that there's more Jews than there are Nazis. But someone else had the same idea and has the courage to attack the Jews but gets shot in the head and even worse 6 more innocent Jews get hung. So yanek feels that he shouldn't try and fight back for the sake of other people.

Yanek gets marched to a ramp and taken into a cattle car squeezed so tightly that many people couldn't breath or move. He went many days without food water or fresh air and movement. He passed by a family of normal people and they began to mock him and throw snowballs at him. He also stopped by other cattle cars and told each other from car to car what name was written on the top of the car and where they were headed. He got lucky enough to be standing by a window/vent and sometimes got to drink the snow through the grates.

Yaneks figurative journey

yanek was at his lowest point when he was in the cattle cars and the gas chambers it says "The Nazis had finally broken me it was all a big joke I could see that now." (pg.128) also "'what are you waiting for?' I cried. 'Kill me! I give up! you win!'" (pg.129) These quotes show how upset and ready yanek was to give up. But then the showers sprayed out cold water and Yanek says it was like he had been re-birthed. His spirits lifted knowing that life gave him a second chance. He began to try and live like a normal human from then on, Taking a shower every morning, and brushing his teeth with his finger, and going to the back of the line for lunch to get the chunks in the soup that fall to the bottom.

Yanek arrives at sachsenhausen after a long death march. He settles down in his bunk for the night. The next morning at roll call a man was forced to salute to the Nazis because he reached his hand up to wipe sleet off his face. He eventually collapsed and was beaten to death. While they were standing in the freezing snow and sleet not able to move another man ran into the electric wire on the fence and died. The next day after work Yanek was taken while eating along with half a dozen other young men. He was taken to the soldiers mess hall to sing to entertain the Nazis while they are their delicious food. Yanek only spent a short time there before being moved again..

Yanek arrives to Auschwitz to see an entrance gate that says "work makes your free" He sees other new arrivals coming in with regular clothes and their belongings in a bag. Yanek and all the other prisoners were tattooed their numbers. Yaneks was B-3087. at night yanek heard singing and asked people what that noise was they responded by saying it was the women who were singing for the children they had lost to the gas chambers. He made a friend named Fred and they bonded over their similarities. But one day he got sick and couldn't get out of bed for roll call so the officers beat and hung him. Yanek made another promise never to forget. Then one day the prisoners were getting moved due to the war traveling. They headed on their death march walking in the day and sleeping in the snow at night with nothing but half a loaf of bread.

Yanek and some other people got shipped off by train from sachsenhausen to bergen-belsen. when they arrived the commandment was extremely upset with the "material" they had brought to him. They were skinny and looked like walking dead. the commandment separated the prisoners into 2 batches, One to kill, and one to live. Yanek was put in the living section and was given a whole week to regain their strength. Yanek was given a lot of good food which made his stomache upset from not having such a delight and ages. So when they gave them more food he was careful and traded his soup for more bread. which was something he had learned for an upset stomach back in school is that dry foods help. yanek was ready to go the rest of the war at this camp seeming as it was pretty generous. But when he began work again he was picked at random to be Moonface's next victim. He was picked on and beat up every day soon finding out that before the war Moonface was put in jail as a prisoner for murder. He knew had to get out of the camp or he would've been beaten to death. He soon found out they were doing a race for finding the strongest people able to work at a different camp. he did the race and ended up moving out and escaping Moonface for good.

Yanek had kind of realized that he accepted the death now. When he saw people die right next to him and all around him he wasn't shocked and could care less. In the train they were packed tightly like before. He was used to it so it could've been a new scary feeling. When he arrived at gross-rosen he felt that there couldn't be anything worse that what had already happened he had experienced it all. On day at roll call a Nazi noticed a button missing on his short and sentenced him to 20 lashes. Yanek was angry and upset but knew he could do nothing about it. He had accepted his fate. He got on his knees with his shirt off. waiting for the lashes. The Nazis told him to count each one in German. He messed up on 11 and and the Nazis started again he was in so much pain and suffered way more than 20 lashes. Later that night he had a dream where he was in a hole falling but scrambling to escape and stay alive. He woke up telling himself he would never fall in the hole and was ready to gain some good spirit again after such a time bringing his emotions down.

Yanek arrived at Dachau concentration camp after a long and gruesome death march. They marched for days in the freezing cold snow. It wasn't something Yanek hadn't experienced before. When they got to the camp it was in such chaos that the prisoners didn't even have to work. The allies were close and freedom even closer. Early one morning something was different, no ss officers or guards or Nazis came in to wake them up, no one was waiting outside the door, nobody was even in the camp. The Nazis had fled in the night. They were free. The war was over but nobody moved. They didn't know what to do. They had no friends family or land of any kind to go to, and for most people everyone they knew was dead. Nobody moved, because they didn't know whether it was a trap or not. Everyone was waiting for the Nazis to jump out and shoot every last one of them. Off in the distance they saw soldiers. But it wasn't German soldiers, It was the American soldiers. They were being liberated! yanek fell on the ground and started to cry.

The Americans brought everyone to Munich Germany where Yanek had his own room. They gave him a toothbrush and a washcloth and everything he could need, including a bed with a mattress and sheets that he didn't even have to share. He found Mrs immerglick back from across his old flat where he used to live. and she told him he still had family, his cousins friends that they took in. He went to go see them as soon as possible and they greeted him happily. They told him he should go to America and he did. he came back to visit them often and eventually grew up to marry their daughter, Ruth.