Alan Ruff - Prisoner B-3087

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Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Grantz is the story of 10-year-old Yanek Gruner, a Polish Jew held in the concentration camps of WWII Germany.  Prisoner is based off of the true life of events Jack Gruner and his struggle to survive amidst so much death.
                The Holocaust is very difficult situation to write about because of the seriousness and reverence of the subject matter.  By choosing to tell the story through the eyes of a young boy, Grantz is able capture innocence in the middle of so much senseless death.  Grantz uses bread as a symbol of life throughout the book.  Yanek and his father sneak out in the middle of the night to bake the hidden bread that they will take to the others.  Under cover of darkness in the bakery, Yanek is made a Jewish man in the presence of ten other men.  It is his memories of this bread and the small pieces of bread that he was able to save for himself that would help him survive for the next six years.  This bread is much like the manna that God provided for the Jews while they wandered in the wilderness.
                One day while bathing beside the water pump, Yanek remembers back to a time when he used to own a toothbrush.  Having seen so much suffering and death, the thought of a toothbrush seemed like it belonged in another life.  Yanek recalls this moment after being liberated as he lays in a bed with sheets and a pillow.  “Beside my bed there was a little table, and on the table the Americans had given me more gifts: a wash cloth, a cup, and a toothbrush.  I picked up the tooth brush reverently and cried as I held it in my hands. I remembered that day, standing at the pump in the camp – which camp had it been? – when I wondered when I had ever been so fortunate as to have something so simple as a toothbrush?” 

                Grantz foreshadows how it is the little things in life that we miss and take for granted in the opening of the book.  It is Yanek’s memories of these little things along with the memories of his family that give him hope to survive.

Comments

  1. StephanieDawkinsOctober 26, 2016 at 5:38 PM

    I love the way that you ended your blog post. We often do take the little things in life for granted but when we have nothing, it is the little things that we remember and what pushes us to continue on to survive in this dirty, cold world. We often do not think of what life would be like if we didn't have a toothbrush like Yanek. Once he did receive the small gifts the Americans gave him, he cried. I could never imagine myself crying because I had a wash cloth, cup, and a toothbrush, but at the same time, I've never had to go without any of these items.

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  2. Lucy McElroyOctober 27, 2016 at 6:23 AM

    Alan- I also like what you said in the last part of your post. It seems that Yanek starts to lose himself in the camps, which can only be expected of a survivor of the Holocaust. He tried so hard to hang on to every memory he had of his family and his past life until it seemed foreign. It's tragic. Great post.

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