Prisoner B-3087

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Time is usually an important piece in a story. The author typically keeps the reader up to date on a particular timeline to keep the story running smoothly and to prevent confusion in the reader between the events of the plot. Time in Prisoner B-3087, or a lack thereof, is an important element not included in the story to create a confusion of time for the reader that mirrors the confusion of time for prisoners of WWII living in Nazi concentration camps. Yanek, a young Jewish boy living in 1930 Nazi occupied Poland, is the protagonist of the story. Yanek is taken by Nazis and forced to live in work in Nazi concentration camps when he is 10 years old. He is stripped of everything he owns and knows, his family is killed with the exception of a couple of cousins, and he loses all conceptions of his own identity and how long his existence as a prisoner has and will last. Gratz tells the story of Yanek's fight for survival during his various stints in ten different Nazi concentration camps until the age of sixteen, but fails to give the reader an accurate account of how long Yanek is in each camp, how old he is, and how much time has occurred between the Nazis occupying Poland and when the Allies arrive and free those living in the concentration camps. Yanek's lack of knowledge about his own age and the time he has spent in concentration camps is evident when he says, "I was fifteen now, maybe even sixteen. It was winter, but I had no idea what month it was, let alone what day. I had been in concentration camps for more than two years" (135).
This lack of a concrete time frame is intentional, and an important piece of the novel in that the reader nor Yanek know what day, month, or year it is, how long Yanek has been at each concentration camp, or even how old Yanek is. Yanek remembers his makeshift Bar mitzvah while hiding in the basement with his father and other relatives at 13 and tries to judge how old he is by how far away that important element of his life is from his life in the concentration camps. To know how old you are and what day, month, and year it is was a privilege not given to Jews living on the concentration camps.
Time, something that is common knowledge to anyone with the capabilities of telling time, was taken away from Jews and other prisoners and treated as knowledge for the superior races. Through his deliberate omission of time, Gratz is able to create a reading environment that equates to the understanding of time to Yanek during his time at the various concentration camps. The reader becomes confused and at times frustrated by not being given this information, but Gratz does this to create empathy for Yanek and his own struggle to know the timeframe of his own life. The reader is not treated as privileged with this information, but equal to Yanek and the other prisoners who are far removed from the simple right of knowing their own age and other simple truths about time.

Comments

  1. TashaTOnlineApril 7, 2017 at 10:43 AM

    I really like your focus on time and how how much we rely on it for a sense of place and security. I agree that Gratz does a wonderful job re-creating the confusion and disorientation of Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. It would be neat to compare Yanek's journey to other well-known depictions of Holocaust survivors. This book is also very rich in historical significance, but seems to be more personal on many levels.

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