Yanek and his family live in Krakow, Poland. But in the blink of an eye, the Germans invaded their city at the beginning of WWII. For now, Yanek and his family remain in Krakow. For a little while they stay in their flat with several other families. Anti-Sematic rules were put in place that persecuted Jewish people, taking away any rights they had, over time, the walls built up around the ghetto to contain the remaining Jews who had not been taken for resettlement or deportation yet. One by one many Jews were relocated to other Jewish ghettos, work camps, and concentration camps or were killed on site. Also, This is where Yanek had his bar mitzvah.

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 continuous 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 father's constant hopefulness and positivity and wonders who is 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 thought all his family members were gone and that it was all over right then and there. All Natzis thought of the Jews as anti-Semitism. When he went to work, he saw his uncle, Moshe. This changed everything for Yanek because he thought everyone he loved was gone. Yanek didn't know the camp's rules when he shouted out with excitement ¨uncle Moshe ¨ right away." Among Goeth, he said who that was, and no one answered, so he decided to take advantage of someone for something they didn't do. When Yanek got the break to talk to Uncle Moshe his heart was filled with happiness because it was great to know that Uncle Moshe was still here with him so he didn't think he was alone. They also used the Torah for the bar mitzvah.

When Yanek was deported from Plazow, he thought this would be way better than working there. He didn't know what was ahead of him, but it would be soon to find out. When Yanek first went down to the Wieliczka Salt Mine, he was given a pick axe and a helmet with a flashlight on it. After all the instructions were told everyone started mining salt. Yanek saw someone familiar and asked if he was from Krakow poland the guy quickly responded no. Two other kids about yankes age also questioned him because he looked familiar. They were soon to find out that the guy who looked familiar was a guy who worked as a Judenrat almost like a police officer for other Germans and he did rediculous stuff. After all the guards left the two boys that were around Yanek's age wanted to get revenge for what he did so they pickaxed the man and rubbed all of his wounds in salt so they made him suffer.

Yaneks Literal journey, when Yanek was heading to the gas chambers he was quite literally going insane, he was on the train there, he was all smashed into the corner and he was there for days but he was relieved when it started to snow because there was snow in the little air vent so he would eat it, when he was sleeping he woke up to a smelly train and when he looked around he saw a dead body next to him so he was scared and tried to move but couldn't because people were yelling at him for moving because all of the other prisoners were sleeping.