Summary

As Chapter 1 opens, Yanek, a young Polish Jew, was sitting with his family in his flat in Krakow as they spoke about politics. It was 1939 and World War II was gaining steam, and the German army was advancing on Poland. His Uncle Moshe, his Uncle Abraham, and his father all discussed Hitler’s plan to rid Europe of its Jewish population, as well as Germany’s annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia. Yanek’s mother declared that she had had enough talk of politics, and Yanek began to show everyone his shadow puppet performance of an American Wild West scene. The radio interrupted the family fun to convey that the German army had reached Krakow, where the family lives, and Yanek looks out the window to see smoke beginning to furl and the bells of Wawel Cathedral ringing in alarm.

In Chapter 2, Yanek watched...