Sparknotes Prisoner B-3087

Prisoner B-3087 (change later) Prisoner B-3087 is based on a true story that outlines the struggle of a young Jewish boy who is ripped from his home and family during World War II and placed in a concentration camp. Yanek, the main character, struggles with the choice between helping his fellow prisoners – and perhaps dying – or emphasizing survival and remaining safe. Through his story, the novel details the cultural struggle of being Jewish in Nazi Germany, the terrible personal consequences of society’s dehumanization of many citizens and its lack of respect for fundamental human rights, and the internal conflict it creates over prioritizing the safety of oneself or others. Throughout the beginning of the early 20th century, the rise of

Jews growing up in Nazi Germany faced many challenges, such as persecution, concentration camps, ghettos, and separation from their families. Yanek, throughout the story, has to find a way to combat adversity faced throughout the story. The novel begins with an older Yanik, looking back on his life before he experienced the horrors to come. He states, “If I had known what the next six years of my life were going to be like, I would have eaten more. I wouldn't have complained about brushing my teeth, or taking a bath, or going to bed at eight o'clock every night. I would have played more. Laughed more than I could. I would have hugged my parents and told them I loved them. But I was ten years old, and I had no idea of the nightmare that was to come. None of us did” (Gratz 1). Yanek describes the life he had and how he took it for granted because he was young and naive; his life and family were ripped from him at just ten years old. Yanek's struggles with embracing his Jewish identity and dealing with the challenges that come as a result, one of them being the oppression he faces in concentration

Yanek describes the suffering the Nazis put him through, saying, "They took everything from us - our homes, our families, our identities.” When a person gets sent to a concentration camp, they get tattooed with a number on their arm so that it’s easier to identify and manage prisoners. Yanek received the number B-3087. Yanek’s name was a part of his identity and for it to be ripped away and turned into a number can be very demoralizing. Yanek is not allowed to go to school, practice his religion, or own any business, or else he will be killed. Yanek describes the life of a Jewish person, saying, “We were lower than animals. They could kill as many of us as they wanted, and there would always be another trainload of us to take our place.” This means Yanek and his fellow Jews in camps are just another body to everyone else, with no life or purpose other than to work until they drop dead. Before the Holocaust began, the rise of anti-semitism had already