he sees brutality and death , the town rabbi torn to pieces by german attack dogs , two dozen of his friends and acquaintances machinegunned before his eyes ; travels hundreds of miles , almost all on foot , throughout eastern poland ; is a fugitive crouching in a little hole in the ground listening to the sounds of massacre outside ; his shoes crunching through the snow in flight , shivering through winter nights unprotected in the forest ; thrown into jail with a death sentence due to be carried out the next day , flight and concealment again ; breaking three times through the ghetto fence , and months of deadly combat .