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Chapter 6
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Prisoner B-3087, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Determination and Luck
Anti-Semitism and Cruelty vs. Humanity
Connection vs. Isolation
Coming of Age, Trauma, and Remembrance
Identity vs. Anonymity
Summary
Analysis
The next morning, the 7,000 volunteers have not appeared to be deported. The Nazis blare announcements saying that the Jews will be punished if they come out, but they’ll be killed if they hide. Yanek, Oskar, and Mina hide in the pigeon coop, along with his Uncle Moshe, Aunt Gizela, Yanek’s cousin Zytka, and the rest of his aunts, uncles and cousins.
Yanek’s ingenuity and responsibility again prove indispensable, as his discovery of the pigeon coop affords protection to Yanek’s entire extended family in the face of Nazi deportations.
Themes
Yanek looks out a small window to see what is happening, and he announces that the Nazis are taking sick and old people out of the hospital to take to the camps. But then, Yanek that they aren’t going to the camps: they’re being shot in the square. Yanek and his family sit there for hours, listening to the gunshots and screams.
Here, Yanek starts to provide a fuller picture of the violent cruelty of the Nazis as they kill the elderly and the sick simply because they can. Given the real-life historical context of the Holocaust, it’s clear that this startling lack of humanity is only the beginning.
Themes
Suddenly, the metal door to the coop rattles—someone is trying to get through. Everyone holds their breath, but the person leaves. That evening, the trucks blare a new message: if the Jews do not come to the square, the whole ghetto will be “liquidated.” Moshe argues that they should go, saying that the Nazis will kill them if they don’t. Yanek insists that it’s a trick to get them out of their hiding place. He says that if they leave they will certainly be killed, but if they stay there is a chance they can survive.
Yanek proves his true maturity in arguing for why they shouldn’t leave the pigeon coop, despite the inherent dangers. Even though he is still only 13, Yanek has the wisdom to understand the gravity of the situation and to be able to reason with the adults—a wisdom that comes only from the danger that he has already learned to elude over the previous three years.
Themes
Oskar agrees with Yanek, and gradually everyone else agrees with Yanek as well and decides to stay. The deportations, gunshots and screams last for two days. But on the third day, the Nazis and the trucks leave without liquidating the ghetto. Seven thousand Jews had been collected, but Yanek’s family are not among them.
Not only is Yanek able to see the situation clearly—and is proven right—but his wisdom is also able to convince the adults. By exhibiting maturity beyond his years, he’s able to save all of their lives (at least for now) in the process.
Themes
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