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 a Krakow Ghetto. 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 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. 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 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.

Yanek has been through a lot lately, he lost all of his family and has nothing left. Until he finds Uncle Moshe at the labor camp and he is filled with joy and excitement. But then when Uncle Moshe can finally talk to Yanek he tells him this, "Yanek, we cannot let these monsters tear us from the pages of the world." (pg.70) This explains that Yanek needs to survive at all costs. Yanek realizes that he is a man now and that his parents would want him to survive and not die like they did.

Yanek gets taken to a salt mine called Wieliczka Salt Mine. He has to work there with other prisoners. Yanek describes the salt mine as how it's all made out of salt and that there are statues and a chandler made out of salt. And how they have to work very deep underground.

While Yanek is at Trzebinia, him and the other workers have to carry big rocks and boulders. And he says how the guards kick them around like a ball, "We were the ball, to be kicked around for their sport." (pg.108) This shows that Yanek has fury because he is very angry that he has to get kicked around like that. And he tries to stand up for himself against the guards, but then realizes that he needs acceptance because when the other workers tried doing that they ended up dead. This gives Yanek a lot of fear and tries not to get other innocent people killed.

When Yanek gets moved from the Trzebinia concentration camp he gets put in a cattle on a train while the other printers move on to the cattle. While he was on the cattle he found some snow to eat and tried getting air from ventilation and some Jews died from starvation and from being very cold. And when he was sitting there was a dead guy leaning against his shoulder thought out being on the cattle. When Yanek arrived, he could also smell all the dead bodies burning at the camp.

Yanek's Figurative Journey

When Yanek gets taken to the camp, he keeps telling himself, "I'm still alive." After he takes the shower in the gas chamber. He thought that it was going to be gas that would come out but instead it was water that came out. Then Yanek relaxed how hard he worked to survive for Uncle Moshe, "I started to cry, the first tears I had shed since Moshe had died." (pg.126) This explains how the had worked hard ever since Uncle Moshe I had died. Yanek is very happy that he hasn't ended up dead and that he is still alive.

Yanek had to get moved from the Birkenau Camp to the Auschwitz Camp that has a lot of Jews and a Extermination "Death" Camp. Yanek sees ashes coming from the chimneys and he sees a lot of Jews working. Yanek had to see people being moved to get burned and killed. He also had to see one of his closest friends get killed and hung by the Nazis.

Yanek's Literal Journey

While Yanek was at the camp, he met a someone who had a lot of similarities that he had. The boy's name was Fred, and he lost his family like Yanek did and was the same age as him. And when it was the next Fred didn't feel good and couldn't get out of bed, it was a roll call and they had to get up and start working but if Fred couldn't get up he would be killed. Yanek tried getting Fred up from his bed and telling to come with him. But Fred didn't listen and told him to go without him. Yanek was crying because he didn't want Fred to be killed and when the Nazis soldiers came over they kept telling Fred to get up, but then they started beating him. They dragged his body to a rope which met he was about to be hung and they kicked the chair and Fred was dead. Yanek couldn't believe what he has just witness he was so sad about what the Nazis had done to his friend.

When Yanek was at the Sachsenhausen Concentration there was a gate that said "Arbeit Macht Frei" The Nazis made them do a lot of things and they got a week off from working and they feed them food so that they could get stronger. and they made them do boxing and racing to see who was the strongest. There was a man called Moonface, a Perpetrator, and who was very brutal towards Yanek and he hit him a lot. When Yanek won the race against the other prisoners he got moved to another camp.

The guards from Sachsenhausen shipped Yanek and other prisoners off to Bergen Belsen. While he was at the Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, it was going well until he met a kapo named Moonface, a Perpertrator. When Moonface would notice him, he would beat him and kick him. There was going to be a race to prove who was the strongest worker. Yanek ended up winning the race and getting sent to another concentration camp. He was happy that he didn't have to deal with Moonface again.

When Yanek was moved to this camp, he could tell by the other prisoners faces that they were scared. This concentration camp had a zoo with lots of animals. The zoo was a fenced-in area in the concentration camp, there were bears. The Nazis treated the animals there very badly. On page 208, "I had seen the Nazis do terrible things. Inhumane, unimaginably cruel things, and I had started to become numb. But somehow seeing that deer there thrashing around, trying to free itself from the fence, made my blood boil." (pg.208) This shows how the Nazis were very cruel towards the animals.

While Yanek was at Gross-Rosen, he lost a button to his prisoner shirt and since he lost a button, he was lashed for his punishment, this was Persecution. And he had to count how many times he got lashed and anytime he counted wrong, he had to restart. He talks about how he was dreaming about him falling to his death. On page 218, "Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! I counted them in German as I fell- eins, zweig, drei, vier, fuenf- Thoom!" (pg.208) This shows while he was falling he kept remembering the crack he heard when he was getting lashed.

While Yanek was at Dachau Concentration Camp. There was bombing and shooting during the night. Then the next morning a prisoner said there were no SS officers or guards and Yanek didn't believe that until he saw that there were none. Then they saw a lot of soldiers coming and they thought they all were going to die but they noticed that they were the Allies an they were saved from them. Yanek got taken to Munich where he got his own bed and got food.

The SS officers and guards were gone. When the American soldiers took Yanek and the other prisoners to Munich, They got there on beds and they had a nice and fantasy dinner at a table with the American soldiers. One soldier gave Yanek a toothbrush and Yanek cried since he haven't seen one in a long time. On page 249, "I picked up the toothbrush reverently and cried as I held it in my hand." (pg.249) Yanek decided to register for a program to go to America, he filled out forms, talked to lawyers, and changed his name to Jacob Greener. I took hims months and years for him to get America. When he stated living in America he started telling his story to many other about his life during the Holocaust.