What advice is Yanek given before he goes into the gas chambers?
He suggests that when they arrive in the gas chambers, Yanek should try to stand under the exhaust vents, because he won’t suffer as long before dying. The news that Yanek’s car is headed for Birkenau disturbs him deeply, as he knows that this likely means his death.
Who was the man that Yanek recognized from Krakow?
Holtzman
Though the man denies it, Yanek recognizes him as Holtzman, the police officer who raided his family’s apartment and brought the Nazis to his flat.
What did Yanek find in his father’s coat?
When Yanek is up in the pigeon coop, he notices Oskar’s coat in the corner. He puts the coat on to try to remember the smell of his father, and he feels a lump in one of the sleeves. Yanek remembers with excitement that there is money sewn into the linings. Yanek rips the seams open and finds 1,000 zloty.
What does Moon Face do to Yanek?
Moonface is a kapo (a prisoner in charge of other prisoners) at Bergen-Belsen whose nickname refers to his round face plagued by acne pits and scars. Moonface targets Yanek specifically, beating him whenever he gets the chance.
What does Yanek expect to come out of the showerheads?
He wishes he had died in the ghetto rather than enduring so much suffering only to die at Birkenau. He and the other prisoners are forced into a room with showerheads. Yanek believes that it’s a gas chamber and waits to die. He begins crying when he realizes that water, not gas, is coming out of the showerheads.
What things happened to Yanek after the shower?
Yanek thinks that he was ready to die, but when water came out of the showerheads, it was as though he had been born again. He becomes determined to keep surviving. After the shower, the Nazis shave the prisoners’ heads and tattoo numbers onto their skin. Yanek is B-3087.
What advice did Uncle Moshe give Yanek?
What advice did Uncle Moshe give to Yanek to help him survive? Pretend that he was an important person in his past so he would get special treatment. Pretend that he was a nobody and do whatever it took to prevent standing out.
Who did Yanek secretly bake bread with?
Yanek’s father was going to Yanek’s uncle’s house where they were secretly baking bread to eat. Where was Yanek’s father going the night Yanek found him sneaking out of their apartment and asked to go with him?
Why does Yanek help support the boy beside him on the death march to Sachsenhausen?
Yanek meets this unnamed boy, who’s around his age, on his first death march from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen. The boy is weak and slowly starts to lag on their march. Yanek helps the boy by supporting some of his weight, thinking that he could easily be in the boy’s position.
What did the prisoners call the cruel kapo with the acne scars?
The kapo, who has a large, round face covered in acne scars, punches Yanek in the face for no reason. The man explains that Yanek looked at him funny. Yanek’s nose gushes blood. Another prisoner tells him that the kapo’s name is Moonface—and that people say he killed three men before the war.
Why did Yanek hesitant open to the boy?
Yanek is hesitant to tell his real name to other prisoners in the camps, because he worries that any connection to another person could catch the attention of the Nazis.
What did Yanek do to survive?
The second concentration camp Yanek survived was Trzebinia Concentration Camp. The work Yanek and the other prisoners were made to do included picking up heavy rocks and moving them from one place, then back and forth repeatedly. If you picked up a rock too small for your body size, you were shot.