Daniel’s Story is told from Daniel’s point of view; he uses photographs to trigger memories of important events and people. The story is told in flashbacks when Daniel is eighteen, as he looks back on both his childhood and his more recent experiences as a Jewish young man caught up in the atrocities of the Holocaust. Daniel has survived to tell his tale, but many of his relatives have not.

Besides Daniel, the main characters in the book are Daniel’s parents, Ruth and Joseph, as well as his younger sister, Erika. The entire family is taken to the Lodz ghetto and eventually separated, with Daniel and his father going to the Buchenwald concentration camp and his mother and sister going to Auschwitz.

Another important supporting character is Rosa, a girl Daniel meets in the Lodz ghetto and who later becomes his love interest.

Other characters include Uncle Peter, Uncle David, Auntie Leah, Oma Miriam, Oma Rachel, Adam, and Friedrich.

In Daniel's Story, the titular character and narrator is Daniel—a boy who survives the atrocities of the Nazi regime during World War II in Germany. Thanks to family support and his hope for the future, Daniel survives to see the liberation of himself and others from a Nazi concentration camp.

Daniel's father, Joseph, does not begin the book as a religious character, but his spirituality increases as he and his family endure the inhumane treatment of the Nazi regime.

Ruth is Daniel's mother. She is a family leader, but does not survive after being imprisoned at Auschwitz.

Daniel falls in love with Rosa when he meets her in Poland after leaving Frankfurt. Later in the book, he marries her. 

Some of the other characters who have significant parts in the story include Uncle Peter, Auntie Leah, Peter, Friedrich, Brigitte, Gertrude, Adam, and Oma Rachel.

Who are the three main characters in Daniel's Story by Carol Matas?  

Daniel's Story by Carol Matas was written in 1993.  It is a fictionalization of one young man's life as he grows up under the Nazi occupation during World War II. Its stark realism has earned it the honor of an exhibit at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum located in Washington, D.C.

The first main character is Daniel, the narrator of the story.  He is 14-years-old at the start of the story.  Through flashbacks, we view him as young as six.  By the end of the story, he has progressed to 18 years of age. 

Though we meet all of his family members, Erika is the second main character. She is Daniel's younger sister.  One of her most memorable contributions is being the youngest violinist in the orchestra at Lodz.  It is her spirit which keeps the family "alive".

The final main character is Rosa.  She and Daniel meet in the Lodz Ghetto. The majority of her "appearances" throughout the story are strictly in Daniel's memories, until the end when they are reunited.