Beginning of the War
One day, Yanek and his family were eating dinner with some of his cousins, aunts, and uncles. His Uncle Moshe mentioned that Hitler wanted to get all the Jews out of Europe. While Yanek was showing a film on his film projecter, it was interupted by the news that the Germans made it to Krakow. Later, they live in a ghetto. They live in a small flat with three other families. Yanek's family lived in a pigeon coop. His parents were taken away first, then, later he was taken away.
During the War
Yanek went to ten different concentration camps and survived all of them. He went to Plazow and found his Uncle Moshe , but later his Uncle dies. Also, he went to Wieliczka Salt Mine where he saw one of the people who invaded there flat and took their valuables. The other camps he went to were Trzebinia, Birkenau, Auschwitz, Sachsenhausen, Bergen-Belsen, Gross-Rosen, and Dachau. He survived all these camps.
End of the War
At the end of the war, the Americans help the Jews including Yanek. Yanek find out that an old neighbor (Mrs. Immerglick) lived. Mrs. Immerglick tells him that her son Fred lived. She also tells him that his cousin Youzek and his family lived. After going to see his cousin, Yanek goes to America to live.
(The picture is of Yanek (Jack Gruener) and his wife Ruth Gruener in 2013.)
Comments