Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Prisoner B-3087, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Determination and Luck
Anti-Semitism and Cruelty vs. Humanity
Connection vs. Isolation
Coming of Age, Trauma, and Remembrance
Identity vs. Anonymity
Summary
Analysis
Moshe is so overwhelmed with excitement at Yanek’s newfound fortune that he hugs and kisses Yanek before remembering that he shouldn’t let anyone see him care about anything. He explains that there is a man in the munitions plant who smuggles in bread and sells it. Moshe says that Yanek has saved them. That night, having acquired bread, Moshe warns Yanek not to let anyone see it, and not to share it with anyone. Moshe tells him that he’s hidden the rest in a place no one will find.
Gratz demonstrates how Yanek’s luck translates to an increased likelihood of survival, as his and Moshe’s ability to get more food is crucial to maintaining their strength. Additionally, the paradox of Moshe’s advice is revealed here once again: Moshe advises that Yanek shouldn’t care about anything or anyone, even while their care for each other is what’s kept them alive.
Themes
Moshe returns to his own barracks, and Yanek cradles the bread, marveling at his good fortune. A kapo comes in to make sure that everyone is in their bunks. Yanek notices the man below him, who has become what is called a “Muselmann.” Muselmanners are so thin that you can see the bones through their skin. But more than that, Muselmanners had given up: their expressions are lifeless and soulless. Yanek knows that his bread could possibly save the man, who is likely dying of starvation. But he also remembers Moshe’s warning and knows that he doesn’t want to become a Muselmann himself, so he eats his bread quietly.
Here, Gratz provides an idea of why determination is so crucial to survival: Muselmanners are just as weary and ill-fed as the other prisoners, but the difference between them and the others is that they’ve lost their determination. Being resigned to death is, in some ways, essentially the same as dying. Yanek’s decision not to share the bread, though it follows Moshe’s advice, makes him feel guilty, which suggests that isolating oneself can rob a person from fundamental aspects of their humanity—chiefly, their connection to others.
Themes
Yanek continues to clean the Kraków ghetto, but he doesn’t find anything else of value. Meanwhile, Moshe buys more food with the money Yanek found—even a carrot. Yanek hopes that the money can help them survive for a while. He has heard rumors that the English or French might be closing in from the west, or the Russians from the east. However, Yanek refuses to believe that the war will be over soon.
Again, the supportive relationship that Yanek and Moshe have is shown to be crucial to their survival. Meanwhile, Yanek’s refusal to believe the war will end soon exhibits his maturity. Rather than trusting in his father’s prior reassurance that the war wouldn’t go on for long, losing his family has forced Yanek to grow up and become sobered to the reality of his situation and the wider conflict.
Themes
One day, when Yanek returns to the camp from cleaning, he asks a boy from his barracks named Thomas what the score is. Thomas reluctantly tells him just one: Moshe. Thomas explains that they closed the furrier’s shop and reassigned the workers to the camp. Moshe was made the leader of a group breaking rocks, and when Goeth asked Moshe how much work had been done, Goeth “didn’t like his answer.” Yanek refuses to believe it, assuring Thomas that it was someone else.
Moshe’s death is another instance of the unfairness and the randomness of the prisoners’ fates in the camps. Moshe was only killed because of the misfortune of the furrier’s shop closing, and the misfortune of being chosen as group leader. Even though Moshe wanted to persist just as much as Yanek does, bad luck prevented him from surviving.
Themes
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At roll call, however, Moshe isn’t there. Yanek thinks about calling out to him, but he knows that it would be dangerous. He reminds himself to “be no one, with no name, no personality, and no family or friends to care about.” But he knows he does care—he had thought that he and Moshe could survive together as the last remaining men from the Gruener family. Yanek also realizes that he doesn’t know where Moshe hid the money he’d found. Yanek knows that now, at 14 years old, he is completely alone again— this time forever.
Yanek reemphasizes how much Moshe had meant to him: first, his uncle was a connection to his former identity; second, the relationship gave him the rarity of support by another person; and third, it allowed him to be able to feel like he had a parental figure. All of these benefits served as fuel for his determination to survive. Now, Yanek again understands that he has to live because the others were unable to survive, so that he can carry on their memory.
Themes
