Prisoner B-3087

Chapters 1-8

Reading Check

1. His own slide projector (Chapter 1)

2. Books about America, doctors, and medicine (Chapter 2)

3. Uncle Abraham’s bakery (Chapter 4)

4. The pigeon coop on the apartment’s roof (Chapter 5)

5. The “ceremony in which a Jewish boy becomes a man—the first time he reads aloud from the Torah” (Chapter 6)

6. 7000 Jews (Chapters 6-7)

Short Answer

1. Poles and Germans stopped buying from Yanek’s father’s store, food became more expensive, and the Polish boys stopped playing with Yanek at school. Eventually, school is cancelled for all Jewish boys. (Chapter 2)

2. Yanek’s father believes that the period of hardship for Jews will pass and the best thing for the family to do is “keep [their] heads down.” On the contrary, Uncle Moshe believes the problems are long lasting and he is concerned for their future. (Chapter 2)

3. A ghetto is a neighborhood in which only Jews are allowed to live. Yanek’s neighborhood of Podgórze becomes the Jewish ghetto of Kraków, meaning that all Jews must move there, and all non-Jews must leave. (Chapter 3)

4. Due to the housing shortage in the ghetto, Yanek’s parents invite three families to live with them in their apartment. With tightened curfews and Jews regularly going missing, Yanek’s parents are too worried to let him go outside, so he spends most of his days inside. (Chapters 3-6)

5. The Nazis announce that if they do not meet the quota of 7000 Jews for resettlement by 6:00 p.m. that day, the entire ghetto will be liquidated. Yanek and his family must decide between volunteering themselves and being sent to a possible death camp, or trying to hide and possibly being found and killed. Ultimately, they decide to stay in hiding. (Chapter 7)

Chapters 9-15

Reading Check

1. Because they needed more workers who had experience in tailoring (Chapter 9)

2. Uncle Mosche (Chapter 9)

3. To “shoot Jews with a rifle while he listened to music on his record player” (Chapter 10)

4. He is a “Muselmanner,” or a weak person who is on the verge of death. (Chapter 11)

5. Because is one of the strongest men in the camp (Chapter 13)

6. He has died during the journey. (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. In Plaszów, Yanek sees the following types of demarcations on prisoners’ uniforms: yellow stars for Jews, red for political prisoners, green for criminals, black for “gypsies,” purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, and pink for “homosexuals.” Unlike the other armbands which also had a letter for the person’s country of origin, the Jews did not have a record of their country of origin. (Chapter 9)

2. Yanek is one of several prisoners assigned to search the now-liquidized Podgórze ghetto for any remaining valuables. After searching the apartments in his former building, as well as finding the corpse of one of his former neighbors, he finds money in his parents’ coats as well as a pair of earrings. (Chapter 10)

3. Yanek finds a loose floorboard where he can “hibernate” and rebuild the strength that brutal work conditions have depleted him of. Since the space is big enough for more than one person, he invites two other boys, Thomas and Isaac, to stay with him. Their plan is to rest during the day and only come out for roll call. (Chapter 12)

4. Yanek is sent to Trzebinia concentration camp, where he works in even more difficult conditions while the Nazis play games with the prisoners. He learns here that making a scene will only cause other people to suffer with you. (Chapter 14)

Chapters 16-20

Reading Check

1. Gypsies (Chapter 16)

2. Shoes (Chapter 17)

3. A small wooden horse (Chapter 17)

4. “Mexico” and “Canada” respectively (Chapter 18)

5. “ARBEIT MACHT FREI” or “Work makes you free” (Chapter 19)

6. To “never forget” (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. This is Yanek’s number that is tattooed to his arm. The “B” stands for “Birkenau” and “3087” is his prisoner’s number. (Chapter 17)

2. One of the prisoners in Yanek’s barrack becomes of age for his bar mitzvah ceremony. While many of the other men scoff at the idea of holding a religious ceremony in these conditions, Yanek feels rejuvenated after his brush with death and offers to be a part of the minyan. He presents the boy with the horse he found in his bed. (Chapter 17)

3. Some of the prisoners manage to escape Birkenau. After some hours, the prisoners are found, returned to the camp, and shot. The guards then turn the guns on prisoners who were not involved in the prison break, shooting at random. (Chapter 18)

4. Yanek and other Birkenau prisoners try to give advice to new arrivals to Auschwitz. One family in particular does not listen, and the woman and child are taken to the gas chamber while the father is sent to work. (Chapter 19)

Chapters 21-25

Reading Check

1. Half a loaf of bread (Chapter 21)

2. They allow the prisoners to sing while walking. (Chapter 21)

3. Sing (Chapter 23)

4. Seven (Chapter 24)

5. A guard that punches Yanek (Chapter 24)

6. “The Jews were chained to the carts like a team of draught horses and whipped like animals” in Buchenwald camp. (Chapter 25)

Short Answer

1. The guards say it is because more workers are needed at Sachsenhausen concentration camp, but the prisoners believe it is because the Allies are advancing and the Germans are losing the war. (Chapter 21)

2. The weather is cold, and many people die or are shot along the journey. They walk for days with no other food beyond the half a loaf and water from the snow. At night, they usually sleep without shelter. (Chapter 21)

3. Yanek is reminded of his friend Fred and chooses to help a boy that looks like a “muselmann.” As he helps him walk, Yanek loses his portion of bread. He struggles with conflicting feelings—wishing the boy were dead so he could take his bread, and a sense of guilt for wishing someone dead. In the end, Yanek does not take the boy’s bread. (Chapter 22)

4. They are given one week’s rest, as well as hearty soup and bread to eat. Yanek believes the conditions at Bergen-Belsen are much better than at the other concentration camps. (Chapter 24)

5. The Buchenwald Zoo is a zoo of animals located in the middle of the Buchenwald concentration camp. People who are not prisoners could come and observe the animals, as well as the prisoners. The animals are provided with better food and treatment than are the prisoners. (Chapter 25)

Chapters 26-30

Reading Check

1. Sleep (Chapter 26)

2. For losing a button (Chapter 26)

3. The documents of the prisoners (Chapter 28)

4. They have fled from the camp during the night. (Chapter 29)

Short Answer

1. Yanek is sent to Dachau concentration camp. He is grateful he has shoes as he observes the corpses of Jews who did not survive prior marches. The road takes them through Czechoslovakia, where he sees the home of Czech people who were also forced to obey the Nazi regime. (Chapter 27)

2. Yanek notices that a guard has extra loaves of bread, but when he musters the courage to ask for a piece, he sees that it is “Moonface,” the guard who treated him badly at Bergen-Belsen. He resolves to ask him anyway, and after “Moonface” holds a knife to his throat, he gives Yanek a small bite of bread. (Chapter 27)

3. Yanek tears off his star and tries to hide in the group with the “Poles.” A Polish prisoner sees him and alerts an officer, who forces him back into the group with the Jewish prisoners. (Chapter 28)

4. Yanek comes across his former neighbor in Munich and learns his cousin is still alive. He visits his cousin, who tells Yanek there is a program for Jewish orphans to go to America. After applying and waiting for three years, he is accepted and leaves for America, resolving to “live.” (Chapter 30)