a young boy named karel responds ""ich weiß nicht"" ("i don't know") to all questions. he grew up in a well-to-do czech family. the nazis had deported his sister and doctor father, while the boy and mother were sent to a concentration camp. karel bears a tattoo numbering a24328, and it is suggested that the a prefix stands for auschwitz. (in fact, tattooed numbers were only given in auschwitz/birkenau and the "a" was not indicative of the location.) they eventually became separated. after the war, karel survived by scavenging for food with other homeless children.