Prisoner B-3087: Chapter 1 Summary & Analysis

Yanek Gruener opens the novel by explaining that if he had known what the next six years of his life would entail, he would have eaten more and not complained about brushing his teeth or taking a bath; he would have laughed and played more and told his parents that he loved them more often. But at the time, at 10 years old, he had no idea what was to come.

In late September 1939, Yanek and his family live in Kraków, Poland. One evening,  Yanek’s extended family gathers in his parents’ home for dinner. As they eat, they worriedly discuss how Hitler wants to make the Jews “disappear from Europe.” Germany has already annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia and recently invaded Poland. Yanek’s father, Oskar, tries to calm his brother Moshe, explaining that Britain and France already declared war on Germany and predicting that the war won’t last six months.

Yanek’s mother, Mina, dismisses the political talk and asks Yanek to “put on a show”—he’s built his own slide projector so that he can show pictures on the wall or do shadow puppet shows. Yanek loves movies—particularly American Westerns. He enjoys putting on shows for his family, who cheer and laugh as he performs. He wonders if, one day, he can go to America to work on movies.

As Yanek performs, the radio abruptly changes to announce that the German Army has reached Kraków. The adults in the room are shocked. Suddenly, there is a big boom outside the window: the Germans have arrived. Yanek again reiterates that if he had known then what he knows now, he would have run with his family without stopping to take anything with him. But instead, they listen to the radio and watch as the Germans arrive.