Jakub Character Analysis

Jakub is an American Jewish man who is imprisoned in Auschwitz-Birkenau while visiting family in Poland. An extremely large and strong man, he quietly tells Lale that he’s starving while Lale tattoos his identification number onto his forearm. Feeling sorry for Jakub because he knows that such a large man needs a lot of food, Lale tells him to wait in the shadows until the end of the day, at which point Lale takes him back to his private room and gives him his hidden rations of food. Shortly thereafter, Houstek takes Jakub away from the rest of the prisoners in Birkenau, and nobody knows what is to become of him. Lale later learns that Jakub has been put to work as the camp’s torturer in Block 11, where the Nazis force him to beat and kill prisoners. Lale discovers this because he himself is taken to Block 11 when the Nazis discover that he’s been smuggling food into the camp. Surprised to see him, Jakub explains that he will have to torture him in front of several officers, who want Lale to give up the names of the prisoners who helped him with his smuggling operation. And yet, Jakub says that Lale must not—under any circumstances—give up the names. Going on, he explains that he’ll try to make Lale’s beating look worse than it really is, but that he’s prepared to kill Lale if it means protecting the other prisoners, since he would rather “kill one Jew to save ten others.” Lale respects this mindset and agrees not to reveal the names of the other prisoners. During the beating, Jakub thoroughly injures Lale but manages to spare his life, telling the guards that it’s obvious Lale doesn’t know the names of the other prisoners, thereby returning the kindness Lale showed him on his first night in the camp.