Prisoner B-3087: Chapters 24–30

by Alan Gratz
Based on a true story, this novel tells the story of a boy who survived imprisonment in multiple Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–17, Chapters 18–23, Chapters 24–30
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. hearty
    providing abundant nourishment
    Our poor stomachs weren’t used to such hearty food.
  2. splotch
    mark with spots or spatters
    Dark red blood splotched my blue-and-gray-striped uniform.
  3. guise
    an artful or simulated semblance
    They were scared. Wide-eyed. And not just at roll call, or when a kapo passed by. It was all the time, like at any moment death might come for you. And at Buchenwald, as I was to learn, death came in many guises.
  4. draught
    the act of moving a load by drawing or pulling
    The Jews were chained to the carts like a team of draught horses and whipped like animals.
  5. gaunt
    very thin, especially from disease or hunger or cold
    We starving prisoners stood at attention, with our hunched shoulders and gaunt faces and oversized, filthy clothes, while healthy, well-fed children and their mothers came to see the animals.
  6. ritual
    any customary observance or practice
    One day I was washing myself at the camp water pump, part of my daily ritual, when I saw two SS officers lure a deer to the fence of their enclosure in the zoo.
  7. inhumane
    reflecting a lack of pity or compassion
    I had seen the Nazis do terrible things. Inhumane, unimaginably cruel things, and I had started to become numb.
  8. berate
    censure severely or angrily
    Word of what they had done had gotten back to Koch, and he berated them in German.
  9. abide
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    Cruelty to prisoners the Nazis could abide. But not cruelty to animals.
  10. strew
    spread by scattering
    I had been surrounded by death for so long, seen so many men die before my eyes, lived with so many dead bodies piled and stacked and strewn about like so much human firewood, that I almost couldn’t care anymore.
  11. purgatory
    a temporary condition of torment or suffering
    They were all different rooms in purgatory, each different but each the same, and the Nazis made it all the more nonsensical by shuttling us around from one to the other, as though it made any difference.
  12. nonsensical
    having no intelligible meaning
    They were all different rooms in purgatory, each different but each the same, and the Nazis made it all the more nonsensical by shuttling us around from one to the other, as though it made any difference.
  13. shuttle
    travel back and forth between two points
    They were all different rooms in purgatory, each different but each the same, and the Nazis made it all the more nonsensical by shuttling us around from one to the other, as though it made any difference.
  14. patter
    a quick succession of light rapid sounds
    Planes flew over the train, so low just their passing shook the cars, and we heard the patter of bullets.
  15. expectation
    belief about the future
    Those of us who had survived the trip, who had survived camp after camp after camp, shuffled into Gross-Rosen without fear or expectation.
  16. stupor
    a state of being half-awake
    They gave us our barrack assignments and put us right to bed. I sank into a deep stupor.
  17. torturous
    extremely painful or unpleasant
    First thing the next morning we were put to work right away, with no more time to recover from our torturous train ride like at Bergen-Belsen.
  18. instinct
    inborn pattern of behavior often responsive to stimuli
    But now that I was back in camp and it was the awful business as usual, my old instinct to survive kicked in again.
  19. abyss
    a bottomless gulf or pit
    The ground cracked and opened. I tried to grab something to stop my fall, but my hands clutched only air. I fell into a deep, black abyss lined with tree roots and rocks, and they struck me as I fell.
  20. suburb
    a residential district located on the outskirts of a city
    Along the way, we passed through villages and suburbs.
  21. wary
    marked by keen caution and watchful prudence
    They still walked like they owned the place, but they were more wary, watching the doorways and crossroads for any sign of trouble.
  22. revolutionary
    a radical supporter of political or social change
    No Czech revolutionaries jumped out from behind the bushes to free us, but the Czech people fought back in less violent ways.
  23. summon
    gather or bring together
    I summoned what little strength I had left and moved up closer to the kapo.
  24. sidle
    move unobtrusively or furtively
    I sidled up alongside the kapo, but when I saw his face I gasped.
  25. falter
    be or become weak, unsteady, or uncertain
    I moved close enough to stand over Moonface, and he looked up at me with his scarred, pitted, round face. I faltered.
  26. delirious
    experiencing hallucinations
    My bunkmate got a spotty rash on his chest, and soon he was so delirious he couldn’t speak or understand a word I said to him.
  27. artillery
    large but transportable armament
    The heavy poom poom poom of artillery shook our wooden beds, and the dust and dirt of seven years rained down on us from the roof.
  28. grim
    filled with melancholy and despondency
    The grim reality set in.
  29. reverent
    feeling or showing profound respect or veneration
    I picked up the toothbrush reverently and cried as I held it in my hands.
  30. yearn
    desire strongly or persistently
    I would always yearn for them and remember them, but there was nothing left for me in Europe but ghosts.
Created on Wed Jan 30 21:29:21 EST 2019 (updated Thu Feb 07 13:15:52 EST 2019)

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