Narrator

Tadeusz “Tadek” Borowski is the narrator and author of the stories. He uses the book to tell about his experiences as a work prisoner Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp. He starts out as a worker who unloads new prisoners when they first arrive at the camp. In this position, he sees the horrid treatment these prisoners are given as they are transported in cattle cars packed so tightly that some people are trampled to death. He sees family members separated from one another, their belongings taken from them and some of them taken immediately to the gas chambers. During his time in Auschwitz, Tadek is given the opportunity to train as an orderly in the hospital, a job not as labor intensive as being a transport worker.

Tadek’s work is timeless as he was a writer and scholar before he was ever taken into the camp. He...