-
Hopes and Dreams
1944-1945-The main character begins describing her hopes and dreams in life, her dream school and her hopes of her mother finally giving her approval. Elli is living through a war and the Holocaust. She is living through 2 AM raids and her father facing jail time for simply owning soap. Soon after, her school is closed before the end of the school year and her hopes of graduating and going to her dream school seem unattainable. As she exits the school echoes of horrendous taunts follow her home. -
Yellow
March 27 & 28-Next, was the liquidation process. First, all Jews were ordered to be registered and deliver all valuables. Elli had gotten a new yellow bike from her parents for her birthday and now she had to just give it away. Later that night, her father showed her the place in their basement where he had hidden their valuables. Next, the Jews had to wear a yellow star on the left side of their body and a yellow star painted on the left of their front door. -
The First Move
April 5-May 13-Next was the proclamation banning Christians and Jewish from speaking or even acknowledging the other's presence. Elli and her mother must leave for the Ghetto, which is filled with over 500 other Jewish families. Everyone is confined to this small space but it becomes normal after some time. Then it is time to move to the labor camps, everyone attempts to be optimistic but everyone knows what happens at those camps. -
Heartbreak
May14-27-Elli’s father is shipped off to another forced labor camp right after they arrive. But Elli never gets to say goodbye to him. The remaining people must place paper belongings into a pile in the middle of the yard. Elli hides her book of poems and saves them from burning. The remaining people are then moved; during their 2-hour truck ride, Elli meets a new friend, a naive soldier who does not know the horrors going on around him. He promises to keep her poems safe until she returns home. -
Hope?
The soldiers stripped these women of their identities. The women are not allowed to go to the polluted water hole, at any time, all they had was black coffee in the morning. Elli has sun blisters on her face, ears, and neck; she can't wear her shoes because they are too small. New hope came when Aunt Celia was ready to join Elli’s barracks but then Elli and her mother left Auschwitz. These women are taken to Plaszow; the women suffered beatings, ate bugs and were worked to death. -
Tattoo
July 8-August- An awful case of diarrhea sweeps through the camp and this upsets the officers and they threatened the women with decimation. Now the rumors begin, “Is Hitler dead?” Hitler was not dead, in fact, he was very much alive and the women were being taken back to Auschwitz. The women now wait in long lines to receive their tattoos, Elli is no longer anonymous, she is now known as A-17360. -
Selection
Aug8-Sep3- The women are settled but as they lay in “bed” the board above her mom breaks, Elli in a stuck place. Her mother is paralyzed and taken to the infirmary. Selection day is coming, who lives and who dies, and Elli has to get her mother out standing for head count. She is able to do it with the help of other women. They must pass selection, Mother passes but Elli must sneak through because she did not pass. Elli then defends her mother in the showers and is brutally beaten by the guard. -
"Welcome"
Elli and her family arrive at Auschwitz, the women are separated from the men. Elli's new age is now 16, not 13. Elli and her mother are kept together; they will never see Aunt Serena ever again, she was too sick. The women are then stripped, shaved, showered in cold water, and put into identical gray dresses. Now is time for Zahlappell, roll call, counting of heads only takes minutes; the women are forced to stand for 3 hrs prior to that. The women learn there is no water and the food is dirt. -
Finally?
Sep 3-April 5, 1944-1945-The women are then transported to Augsburg, fed, clothed, washed, and have a good night's rest. But that does not last, the soldiers quickly turn cruel and the food turns to mush. The women are given new clothes but soon come to find they are from other Jewish girls who were killed by a gun or by gas. Now there are rumors of liberation circling the camp, but the days drag on without saving. -
At Last
June 1945 - April 7, 1951-The book ends with more hard labor, another transport, and finally liberated by the Americans. Elli, Mother, and her brother are taken back to their home, but sadly they find nothing of their belongings, they were all taken or destroyed. The family sits and mourns for their lost father, who died in June. Soon after, the family loved to America to start their new life, and at last, they are free.
