What was the significance of The Silver Sword to both Jan and Joseph?
It is important to Jan that Joseph willingly gives him the sword because Jan is used to having to steal anything he wants. He uses theft as his only means of survival while living in the bombed-out remains of Warsaw.
What is the message of The Silver Sword?
They meet a ragged orphan boy, Jan, who treasures a paperknife – a silver sword – which was entrusted to him by an escaped prisoner of war. The three children realise that the escapee was their father, the silver sword a message that he is alive and searching for them.
What does Joseph find in the rubble in silver sword?
When Joseph eventually reached Warsaw, he barely recognised the city owing to it having been so badly damaged by bombing. He eventually found the ruins of his house and then found a paper knife – the ‘Silver Sword’ – that he once gave to Margrit as a present.
What risks and dangers do the children face in The Silver Sword?
Jan steals from the Americans who are really there to help the Polish. The danger during the latter episodes, is that the children have to hide, not from Nazis this time, but from the people sent to aid the Poles. The problem is that kind of help would mean hindering the children’s journey to Switzerland.
What was the cooler in the silver sword?
At the back of each block was a leaky and unheated hut known as ‘the cooler’. It had three or four cells to which unruly prisoners were sent to ‘cool off’. To be sent there you only had to be late for roll call or cheek a guard. It was quite a popular place in summer, as it was so quiet.
What was the name of the chimpanzee in the silver sword?
The chimpanzee is jumping up and down and scaring the people around him, in part because they are afraid that he will send the vehicle careening down the street. At that moment, Jan appears and calls the chimp by its name, Bistro, and offers it a cigarette, a habit the chimp picked up at the zoo.
Who was Jan in The Silver Sword?
Jan is the guardian of THE SILVER SWORD the small paper knife that belonged to the Balicki Family. It is a symbol of hope that will all find each other one day. He is very brave, and will stand up to anyone, but sometimes this fearless behaviour gets him into trouble as he confronts the wrong people!
Is The Silver Sword a true story?
Based on true accounts, this is a moving story of life during and after the Second World War. THE SILVER SWORD by Ian Serraillier is an unforgettable World War II survival story.
Why does Jan stop the train?
Edek was mistakenly charged for being part of a gang that robbed trains in the American zone. This happened after he followed Jan, who always brought them food in suspicious tins. Jan was involved in stopping the trains by changing the signal.
When was the silver sword by Ian Serraillier?
The Silver Sword is a children’s novel published in 1956 by British author Ian Serraillier. It is widely considered to be a classic of children’s literature.
Why did Serraillier not fight in the war?
Though Serraillier did not fight in the war due to being a conscientious objector, he did a great deal of research into the military side of the story and also drew on his own observations. His description of Russia’s Red Army marching into Poland is based on eyewitness accounts from a book entitled East Wind Over Prague, by J. Stransky.
How does Serraillier imbue his story with a bit more nuance?
However, Serraillier does imbue his story with a bit more nuance than that. The characters are clearly affected by their ordeals, and all is not perfect in the end. He also writes about Warsaw and the refugee crisis in an unsparing way that provides historical context about the war and its effects on people.
How long did it take to write Serraillier?
Serraillier began the work in 1949, five years after World War II’s end, and took five years to complete it. It was published by Jonathan Cape in 1956 and by Puffin Books in 1960.