Settings/Summary
Krakow, Poland- This is the first place we learn of the main characters life at home, we learn of
Yanek and he is a faitly happy kid. He lives with his immediate family and some of his uncles and aunts. the first thing we see of Yanek is his use of creativity, he puts on a puppet show for all of his family out of a projector that he made himself using the basic tools around his house. Krakow is the first place of the story and we come back to it later in the book. When the Germans come to take all of the jews from the area they begin to search the appartment building that Yanek's family is living in. So they try to escape and run up to the roof where theres an old piegon coop that they turn into a shelter. The family hides there for many months until they eventually get taken in the streets by german forces. When Yanek comes back to Krakow he comes on a cleaning detail that the Germans have given him through the concentration camp. So naturally he comes back to his house and to his piegon coop and gets a lot of old memories from his home. After he leaves we never return to Krakow.
Plaszow Concentration Camp- Yanek is taken because they needed more workers for the concentration camp, so he is then taken to the first camp of many. This where his family was taken, he immeditatly found Uncle Moshe but the rest of his family werent as lucky. They did not survive. They forced Yanek to work at the camps tailor shop like everyone else from Krakow. This is also where you meet Amon Geoth. He is the ruthless leader of the concentration camp. This man eventually is the reason that Uncle Moshe dies, he kills him for no reason. This leaves Yanek to carry on his familys name, he is the last member of his family now.
Wielicka Salt Mine- This was a work detail asigned to Yanek because he was among the strongest prizoners still alive. Him hiding in the barracks from Amon Geoth had actually saved his life. In this mine they were in a 300 kilometer long labyrinth, the Nazi's even told the prizoners that they could run off if they wanted to, because it was such a maze that they would never find them. In the mine Yanek recognizes somebody from Krakow, he was one of the ghettos policemen. Some other prizoners didnt like this man because of that fact, so they decided to kill him. They smashed his head in with a shovel and put salt in all of his wounds. This signified purification and punishment in one.
Trzebina Concentration Camp- This was the worst camp so far, in the camp the Nazis job was to tear down the prizoners by breaking them physically and mentally. This is the first time we see Yanek develop a sense of rebellion with all of this. He keeps to himself about it for good reason too. Because one of the other prizoners that felt like Yanek was tired of being beat up and worked so he fought back and was shot instantly. But after that the Nazi wanted to make an example of him, so they took random prizoners out of the lines and hung them infront of the other remaining prizoners. Yanek remembered specifically one boy that was a year or two younger than him who was chosen for no reason by the nazi. He had nothing to do with the prizoner lashing out but he was hung either way. Yanek then vowed to never forget about the little boy and he promised he would never fight back and get other prizoners killed for his actions.
Birkenau Concentration Camp- On the train ride into Birkenau the prisoners were talking about how it was a death camp, that they were going to be but into the gas chambers. So they were already preparing for death before they got to the camp. When the train stopped the were taken out and the smell of burning flesh was in the air. There were more than 12 bodies that were left behind in the train, therse men died on the train ride into Birkenau from an assortment of reasons cold, hungry, or suffication and exhaustion. The Nszi then linned the Prisoners up and began to move them to a large building with a massive chimney comming out of it. Yanek began to cry when he thought of all he endured in the past for it to just end with out a fight. He came to the realization that no matter how hard he tried he was going to die. They were then taken to a large shower room and Yanek decided to stand by one of the collums in the room. At first the men yelled and cursed at the Nazis but then the gas still hadnt came so the men grew restless and louder. Yanek then begins to think to himself that the Nazis couldnt get the fire to light up because of the wind or that someone was standing on the hose, he began to laugh ad he thinks to himself that life was just a big joke, that life had no rhyme or reason. Yanek became angry and yelled to thw shower heads to kill him that he gives up and that the nazi has won. And then at that moment the pipes begin to rattle and then everyone in the room became still and quiet. Then Yanek was dowsed in water and he began to scream with excitment. The Nazi werent going to kill them but give them a shower.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp- This is where the Prisoners from Birkenau were sent after a few months of working, here is one of the most infamous concentration camps that ever exsisted. When the veteran prisoners where being marched to the main gate there where new prisoners being escorated out of the trains by the nazis, and they all were discusted by the way the veterans looked. They were skinny, eyes sunk into the back of there heads, shaven heads, and they smell like death. Yanek does a very brave thing and he steps into the line with the new prisoners and he tells a women to tell the Nazi that her son is 18 and that he has a trade just so he can be saved from the gas chambers. Again this is where Yanek had to lie about his age and occupation just to stay alive. This is also where we are introduced to Fred, he helped Yanek get some bread from a dead man. We find out that Fred is from Krakow too, and apparently they lived quite close to eachother. Fred was a new prisoner, we learn that his mothr and sister where both sent to the furnaces when they arrived. During this chapter we also get the first parts of the WWII bombings that the british and americans where leading. Then something happens to Fred he cant work he says he doesnt feel good which is a bad sign for him, because if you cant work then you die. And thats exactly what happens, Fred is beaten by the barrack Kapo and Yanek is forced to leave for roll call or he will suffer the same fate. just like the little boy Fred was hung infront of everybody at roll call. Yanek couldnt watch this time, but once again he vowed to never forget.
1st Death March- During this march there were near 5000 people, they gave the prisoners each a half loaf of bread which seems like alot but that was to last the whole trip. And nonody knew how long they were going to be on the move for so this made everything a lot more complicated. This journey tested Yanek by making him face some horrible truths, it made him think about taking bread from a dying boy, it made him want the young boy to die just so he could take his bread without feeling any guilt. But the boy was still alive and without helping Yanek he took his bread and joined the march. Therefore Yanek didnt have too choose between the lesser of two evils, instead he had to go on.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp- They arrived at this camp three days after the incident with the boy, at this point in the long journey Yanek did not care about his life. He thought that death would be a welcome release. The Nazi fed them water soup and bread, Yanek was glad that he was not put straight to work or he would have certainly been dead. After dinner they were allowed to sleep. Before roll call they were allowed to wash, which is the first time Yanek has bathed in weeks. This also brought up some memorys about the past, about his past life. He could not imagine a life before the Nazi regime had taken over there lives. During roll call one of the prisoners bolted from the end of the line, and threw himself upon the electric fence and was killed near instantly. The Nazi gaurds laughed at the man and threw his lifeless body down infront of the jews in roll call and told them that they should have more jews kill themselves because the nazi would be glad to get rid of them. After a long time of work in the quarry the gaurds pulled Yanek and a dozen other men to the soilders canteen to sing for the nazi gaurds. And later that night they forced the prisoners into a boxing tournament and made the fellow prisoners watch.
Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp- This was the seventh concentration camp in three years for Yanek. When they arrived, the camp commander was disgusted with everyone on the train, they commander took 75 people out of their ranks and took them behind the train and shot them. The commander then decided that because everyone amongst them looked so week he let the prisoners take a week off of work so they could regain their strength. This was the first time that any Nazi had showed any compasion for the prisoners. A week goes by and then they are back to work, and once again one of the kapos had a problem for no reason. There was a bigger kapo with a round face and scars edged into his skin, he called Yanek over to talk and as soon as Yanek gets to him the kapo punched Yanek in the face. The kapo's reasoning was that Yanek gave him a strange look. When Yanek got back to work the other prisoners told him about who the kapo was, they called him Moonface. He killed three people before the war and was sent to prison and the nazi released him just to be the gaurd. Yanek's new objective was too avoid moonface at all times, so he tried to get on a work detail but the nazi werent taking volunteers they had a race to see who was fit enough to work for them. So Yanek ran and ran as fast as he could and the Nazi chose him to be able to work so now he was away from moonface and on to another camp.
Buchenwald Concentration Camp-When Yanek arrived at Buchenwald he noticed that the prisoners already there were scared to death over anyhting, it was like death could come to them at anytime. Yanek was assigned to carry rocks up a hill for his job, the key to this was if they got a stone to big and they dropped it they would be shot on site and if they got a smaller stone they would be shot for being lazy. This was another fun game for the nazi, and it became a competition for the prisoners. When they got back to camp Yanek noticed something different about this camp, infact there were large cages set up around the camp but they werent for the prisoners but for anmals. The camp commandant thought it was a good idea to have a live zoo for his family and the gaurds entertainment. The commandant was bad but his wife was far worse, she was known as the Witch of Buchenwald and for good reason. She went through the line looking through the men and reading the tattoos that they were given in the begining, a man next to Yanek happened to have another tattoo and the Witch asked him about it and his name was put into her little book. Yanek never saw that man again.
Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp- We begin to see that Yanek is hoping for death to come to him, he doesnt care about seeing the dead anymore he is completly comfortable about all of it. The planes and bombs were coming more and more often with each day. Yanek while on the train, wishes that a bomb would fall from the sky and kill everything along with himself. When they are released from the train they are sent straight to bed without any food. And in the morning they were sent straight to work. There Yanek begins to come to his old senses, he gets his old attitude about surviving and wanting to fight for his life. The Nazi Kapo ordered Yanek to come see him and the Kapo saw that Yanek was missing a button on his uniform. The Kapo told him that the cost for a button was 12 lashes. Yanek was infuriatted but he couldnt do anything about it. So in roll call he was ordered to the front of everyone and was forced to count out the lashes in german, and if he couldnt they restarted until he could. He was forced through 50 or so lashes by the end of it.
Yanek and he is a faitly happy kid. He lives with his immediate family and some of his uncles and aunts. the first thing we see of Yanek is his use of creativity, he puts on a puppet show for all of his family out of a projector that he made himself using the basic tools around his house. Krakow is the first place of the story and we come back to it later in the book. When the Germans come to take all of the jews from the area they begin to search the appartment building that Yanek's family is living in. So they try to escape and run up to the roof where theres an old piegon coop that they turn into a shelter. The family hides there for many months until they eventually get taken in the streets by german forces. When Yanek comes back to Krakow he comes on a cleaning detail that the Germans have given him through the concentration camp. So naturally he comes back to his house and to his piegon coop and gets a lot of old memories from his home. After he leaves we never return to Krakow.
Plaszow Concentration Camp- Yanek is taken because they needed more workers for the concentration camp, so he is then taken to the first camp of many. This where his family was taken, he immeditatly found Uncle Moshe but the rest of his family werent as lucky. They did not survive. They forced Yanek to work at the camps tailor shop like everyone else from Krakow. This is also where you meet Amon Geoth. He is the ruthless leader of the concentration camp. This man eventually is the reason that Uncle Moshe dies, he kills him for no reason. This leaves Yanek to carry on his familys name, he is the last member of his family now.
Wielicka Salt Mine- This was a work detail asigned to Yanek because he was among the strongest prizoners still alive. Him hiding in the barracks from Amon Geoth had actually saved his life. In this mine they were in a 300 kilometer long labyrinth, the Nazi's even told the prizoners that they could run off if they wanted to, because it was such a maze that they would never find them. In the mine Yanek recognizes somebody from Krakow, he was one of the ghettos policemen. Some other prizoners didnt like this man because of that fact, so they decided to kill him. They smashed his head in with a shovel and put salt in all of his wounds. This signified purification and punishment in one.
Trzebina Concentration Camp- This was the worst camp so far, in the camp the Nazis job was to tear down the prizoners by breaking them physically and mentally. This is the first time we see Yanek develop a sense of rebellion with all of this. He keeps to himself about it for good reason too. Because one of the other prizoners that felt like Yanek was tired of being beat up and worked so he fought back and was shot instantly. But after that the Nazi wanted to make an example of him, so they took random prizoners out of the lines and hung them infront of the other remaining prizoners. Yanek remembered specifically one boy that was a year or two younger than him who was chosen for no reason by the nazi. He had nothing to do with the prizoner lashing out but he was hung either way. Yanek then vowed to never forget about the little boy and he promised he would never fight back and get other prizoners killed for his actions.
Birkenau Concentration Camp- On the train ride into Birkenau the prisoners were talking about how it was a death camp, that they were going to be but into the gas chambers. So they were already preparing for death before they got to the camp. When the train stopped the were taken out and the smell of burning flesh was in the air. There were more than 12 bodies that were left behind in the train, therse men died on the train ride into Birkenau from an assortment of reasons cold, hungry, or suffication and exhaustion. The Nszi then linned the Prisoners up and began to move them to a large building with a massive chimney comming out of it. Yanek began to cry when he thought of all he endured in the past for it to just end with out a fight. He came to the realization that no matter how hard he tried he was going to die. They were then taken to a large shower room and Yanek decided to stand by one of the collums in the room. At first the men yelled and cursed at the Nazis but then the gas still hadnt came so the men grew restless and louder. Yanek then begins to think to himself that the Nazis couldnt get the fire to light up because of the wind or that someone was standing on the hose, he began to laugh ad he thinks to himself that life was just a big joke, that life had no rhyme or reason. Yanek became angry and yelled to thw shower heads to kill him that he gives up and that the nazi has won. And then at that moment the pipes begin to rattle and then everyone in the room became still and quiet. Then Yanek was dowsed in water and he began to scream with excitment. The Nazi werent going to kill them but give them a shower.
Auschwitz Concentration Camp- This is where the Prisoners from Birkenau were sent after a few months of working, here is one of the most infamous concentration camps that ever exsisted. When the veteran prisoners where being marched to the main gate there where new prisoners being escorated out of the trains by the nazis, and they all were discusted by the way the veterans looked. They were skinny, eyes sunk into the back of there heads, shaven heads, and they smell like death. Yanek does a very brave thing and he steps into the line with the new prisoners and he tells a women to tell the Nazi that her son is 18 and that he has a trade just so he can be saved from the gas chambers. Again this is where Yanek had to lie about his age and occupation just to stay alive. This is also where we are introduced to Fred, he helped Yanek get some bread from a dead man. We find out that Fred is from Krakow too, and apparently they lived quite close to eachother. Fred was a new prisoner, we learn that his mothr and sister where both sent to the furnaces when they arrived. During this chapter we also get the first parts of the WWII bombings that the british and americans where leading. Then something happens to Fred he cant work he says he doesnt feel good which is a bad sign for him, because if you cant work then you die. And thats exactly what happens, Fred is beaten by the barrack Kapo and Yanek is forced to leave for roll call or he will suffer the same fate. just like the little boy Fred was hung infront of everybody at roll call. Yanek couldnt watch this time, but once again he vowed to never forget.
1st Death March- During this march there were near 5000 people, they gave the prisoners each a half loaf of bread which seems like alot but that was to last the whole trip. And nonody knew how long they were going to be on the move for so this made everything a lot more complicated. This journey tested Yanek by making him face some horrible truths, it made him think about taking bread from a dying boy, it made him want the young boy to die just so he could take his bread without feeling any guilt. But the boy was still alive and without helping Yanek he took his bread and joined the march. Therefore Yanek didnt have too choose between the lesser of two evils, instead he had to go on.
Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp- They arrived at this camp three days after the incident with the boy, at this point in the long journey Yanek did not care about his life. He thought that death would be a welcome release. The Nazi fed them water soup and bread, Yanek was glad that he was not put straight to work or he would have certainly been dead. After dinner they were allowed to sleep. Before roll call they were allowed to wash, which is the first time Yanek has bathed in weeks. This also brought up some memorys about the past, about his past life. He could not imagine a life before the Nazi regime had taken over there lives. During roll call one of the prisoners bolted from the end of the line, and threw himself upon the electric fence and was killed near instantly. The Nazi gaurds laughed at the man and threw his lifeless body down infront of the jews in roll call and told them that they should have more jews kill themselves because the nazi would be glad to get rid of them. After a long time of work in the quarry the gaurds pulled Yanek and a dozen other men to the soilders canteen to sing for the nazi gaurds. And later that night they forced the prisoners into a boxing tournament and made the fellow prisoners watch.
Bergen-Belson Concentration Camp- This was the seventh concentration camp in three years for Yanek. When they arrived, the camp commander was disgusted with everyone on the train, they commander took 75 people out of their ranks and took them behind the train and shot them. The commander then decided that because everyone amongst them looked so week he let the prisoners take a week off of work so they could regain their strength. This was the first time that any Nazi had showed any compasion for the prisoners. A week goes by and then they are back to work, and once again one of the kapos had a problem for no reason. There was a bigger kapo with a round face and scars edged into his skin, he called Yanek over to talk and as soon as Yanek gets to him the kapo punched Yanek in the face. The kapo's reasoning was that Yanek gave him a strange look. When Yanek got back to work the other prisoners told him about who the kapo was, they called him Moonface. He killed three people before the war and was sent to prison and the nazi released him just to be the gaurd. Yanek's new objective was too avoid moonface at all times, so he tried to get on a work detail but the nazi werent taking volunteers they had a race to see who was fit enough to work for them. So Yanek ran and ran as fast as he could and the Nazi chose him to be able to work so now he was away from moonface and on to another camp.
Buchenwald Concentration Camp-When Yanek arrived at Buchenwald he noticed that the prisoners already there were scared to death over anyhting, it was like death could come to them at anytime. Yanek was assigned to carry rocks up a hill for his job, the key to this was if they got a stone to big and they dropped it they would be shot on site and if they got a smaller stone they would be shot for being lazy. This was another fun game for the nazi, and it became a competition for the prisoners. When they got back to camp Yanek noticed something different about this camp, infact there were large cages set up around the camp but they werent for the prisoners but for anmals. The camp commandant thought it was a good idea to have a live zoo for his family and the gaurds entertainment. The commandant was bad but his wife was far worse, she was known as the Witch of Buchenwald and for good reason. She went through the line looking through the men and reading the tattoos that they were given in the begining, a man next to Yanek happened to have another tattoo and the Witch asked him about it and his name was put into her little book. Yanek never saw that man again.
Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp- We begin to see that Yanek is hoping for death to come to him, he doesnt care about seeing the dead anymore he is completly comfortable about all of it. The planes and bombs were coming more and more often with each day. Yanek while on the train, wishes that a bomb would fall from the sky and kill everything along with himself. When they are released from the train they are sent straight to bed without any food. And in the morning they were sent straight to work. There Yanek begins to come to his old senses, he gets his old attitude about surviving and wanting to fight for his life. The Nazi Kapo ordered Yanek to come see him and the Kapo saw that Yanek was missing a button on his uniform. The Kapo told him that the cost for a button was 12 lashes. Yanek was infuriatted but he couldnt do anything about it. So in roll call he was ordered to the front of everyone and was forced to count out the lashes in german, and if he couldnt they restarted until he could. He was forced through 50 or so lashes by the end of it.