who is jan

Jan is a street child orphaned in the war. He is quite wild and almost feral as a result of taking care of himself on the streets of Warsaw. He is talented at all the things that are illegal, such as fighting and pickpocketing. Jan is very combative; he hates Germans and soldiers, so it is possible that he saw his family taken away by the German military. He is oddly sentimental about seemingly worthless things, such as three dead fleas given to him by an escaped chimpanzee. It is this love of acquiring and hoarding in his little wooden box that ultimately brings him together with the Balicki children and their quest to find their parents: Ruth recognizes the silver sword in his box from her house. Jan is not much of a people person, but he has a special bond with animals, all of whom love him, and with Ruth.