Prisoner B-3087 Character Analysis

Yanek Gruener

Yanek is the protagonist of Prisoner B-3087. Yanek’s story is based on the real Yanek (Jack) Gruener’s experiences during World War II. When the story begins in 1939, Yanek is living with his parents… read analysis of Yanek Gruener

Uncle Moshe

Moshe is Yanek’s uncle and Oskar’s brother. At the beginning of the book, Moshe lives in Kraków with the rest of Yanek’s family. Unlike Oskar, Moshe is initially skeptical of the Nazis’ new… read analysis of Uncle Moshe

Fred

Fred is a boy about Yanek’s age whom he befriends at Auschwitz. Though Yanek is wary of getting too close to another person because of the advice that Moshe gives him, Yanek finds comfort… read analysis of Fred

Oskar Gruener

Oskar is Yanek’s father and Mina’s husband. Unlike his brother Moshe, who is extremely ware of the Nazi occupation of Kraków, Oskar remains optimistic even as the Nazis take over and subject… read analysis of Oskar Gruener

Mina Gruener

Mina is Yanek’s mother and Oskar’s wife. Like Oskar, Mina tries to remain optimistic as the Nazis take over Kraków and subject the Jews to worse and worse conditions. Yet Mina grows more… read analysis of Mina Gruener

Boy

Yanek meets this unnamed boy, who’s around his age, on his first death march from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen. The boy is weak and slowly starts to lag on their march. Yanek helps the boy by… read analysis of Boy

Moonface

Moonface is a kapo (a prisoner in charge of other prisoners) at Bergen-Belsen whose nickname refers to his round face plagued by acne pits and scars. Moonface targets Yanek specifically, beating him whenever he gets… read analysis of Moonface

Amon Goeth

Goeth is the Nazi commandant at Plaszów concentration camp. Goeth is notorious for his cruelty, shooting Jewish prisoner at random in the parade grounds every morning. The first time Yanek goes to roll call, Goeth… read analysis of Amon Goeth

Thomas

Thomas is a boy in Yanek’s barracks at Plaszów concentration camp. When Yanek discovers the crawlspace under the floorboard there, he shares this information with Thomas and another boy named Isaac. Yanek is… read analysis of Thomas

Isaac

Isaac is a boy in Yanek’s barracks at Plaszów concentration camp. When Yanek discovers the crawlspace under the floorboard there, he shares this information with Isaac and another boy named Thomas. Yanek is… read analysis of Isaac

Uncle Abraham

Abraham is Yanek’s uncle and Oskar and Moshe’s brother. Abraham and his wife, Fela, are allowed to continue making bread for the Nazis during the occupation of Kraków, but they also bake… read analysis of Uncle Abraham

Aunt Fela

Fela is Yanek’s aunt and Uncle Abraham’s wife. Fela and Abraham are allowed to continue making bread for the Nazis during the occupation of Kraków, but they also bake bread for Yanek and… read analysis of Aunt Fela

Holtzman

Holtzman is a Judenrat (a Jewish police officer who works with the Nazis) in the Kraków ghetto who raids Yanek’s apartment. Later, Yanek recognizes Holtzman as one of the prisoners he is working alongside… read analysis of Holtzman

Mrs. Immerglick

Mrs. Immerglick is a neighbor of Yanek’s who lives in his apartment complex. Mrs. Immerglick and her family are taken to the concentration camps in a raid early on in the Nazi occupation of… read analysis of Mrs. Immerglick

Minor Characters

Youzek

Youzek is a cousin of Yanek’s who also survives the war by hiding with friends. After the war, Yanek finds Youzek, who suggests that he go to America in order to start a new life, which Yanek does.

Mr. Tatarka

Mr. Tatarka is a neighbor of Yanek’s who lives in his apartment complex. When Yanek returns to the Kraków ghetto to clean it as part of his duties at Plaszów, he discovers Mr. Tatarka’s dead body in his apartment.

Aunt Gizela

Gizela is Yanek’s aunt and Uncle Moshe’s wife. She and her daughter Zytka volunteer for deportation from the Kraków ghetto in 1942, and they are killed at Plaszów concentration camp.

Zytka

Zytka is Yanek’s cousin and Moshe and Gizela’s daughter. She and her mother volunteer for deportation from the Kraków ghetto in 1942, and they are killed at Plaszów concentration camp.

Josef Mengele

Mengele is the Nazi commandant at Auschwitz. Mengele is was a real-life Nazi doctor who’s infamous for the cruel experiments he performed on Jewish prisoners at Auschwitz.

Hela

Hela is Youzek’s wife. She and Youzek survive the war by hiding with friends, and after the war, they are Yanek’s only surviving family.

Prisoner B-3087 Characters