Chapter One

Eliezer is one of four children in a strict Jewish family. He is the only boy and he is twelve years old.They live in a town called Sighet, in Transylvania. Eliezer and his family strictly adhere to Jewish laws, and he tells of how he reads the Talmud everyday. His father is a shopkeeper, and is highly respected among the Jewish Community. He also tells of how the Germans are occupying Sighet. Their situation soon takes a turn for the worst.

German control spreads from the capital into Sighet. Eliezer and his family are moved into a ghetto and forced to wear Stars of David. They are then moved into an even smaller ghetto. A woman asks his family if they want to be hidden but they decline her offer. Then the Germans begin to move the Jews from the Ghettos to Auschwitz.