Prisoner B-3087

After Yanek’s parents are taken to the concentration camp, his aunts, uncles, and cousins are quickly taken as well. Yanek, the only member of his family remaining, is then taken from his job at the tailor shop because they need workers at the tailor shop in Plaszów, a nearby labor camp. He begins to panic as he’s is loaded into a truck, wondering what fate might befall him.

The truck takes Yanek to Plaszów, a series of buildings surrounded by barbed wire. He is ordered to strip and is forced to exchange his clothing for a pair of wooden shoes and a blue and gray striped prison uniform. Yanek thinks that he is “officially a prisoner.” As he walks to the tailor shop, Yanek notices the different symbols on the prisoners’ uniforms: the star of David for Jews, red triangles for political prisoners, green for criminals, black for gypsies, purple for Jehovah’s Witness, and pink for homosexuals. All of them have a letter to indicate their country of origin, but there are no letters in the Stars of David. Jews, Yanek thinks, “had no country.”

As Yanek walks, he spots his uncle Moshe and calls out to him. Moshe sees him and shakes his head in horror, looking away. The kapo demands to know who shouted, saying that prisoners are not to speak unless spoken to. He strikes the man closest to him, and Yanek resolves not to speak again until he can find Moshe privately.

At the tailor shop, Yanek does the same work as his old job, but he recounts that the workers are often beaten simply because they are Jews. He sees men who are beaten not get up again—they are then dragged away by soldiers, never to return.

That night, Yanek returns to the barracks. As he’s eating his small piece of bread and watery soup, Moshe finds him, and they hug with relief. Moshe then explains that Yanek cannot do anything to stand out. From now on, he must have “no name, no personality, no family, no friends.” Yanek understands.

Yanek asks Moshe if his parents are there, and Moshe explains that they are not—that unless they were taken to a work camp, they are likely dead. Moshe tells him, through tears, that his wife, Gizela, and daughter Zytka were also shot and killed because they could not work. He says that they have one purpose now: to survive at all costs. He tells Yanek that they cannot let the monstrous Nazis erase them.

Soon after, Yanek and Moshe line up in an open field for roll call, where the Nazis check that the numbers on their clipboards match the numbers on their uniforms. The commandant of the camp, Amon Goeth, walks along the line with two German Shepherds behind him. Suddenly, Goeth stops in front of the prisoner beside him and yells, “Attack! Attack! Kill the Jew!” The dogs immediately start to rip the man beside Yanek to pieces. Yanek wants to help, but knows that if he moves, he will be killed as well. When the man stops moving, Goeth shoots him through the head.

Another man is killed at roll call for not doffing his cap in the correct way. When it is over, Yanek feels that he has “survived a battle.” Yanek hears someone ask what the score is. Another man says “Goeth seven, Jews nil.” When Yanek asks if that’s the number Goeth has killed since the man has been here, the man responds that it’s only the number of Jews Goeth has killed that day.