Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Little, Brown, 2009.
Description
Thomas Buergenthal, now a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir. Arriving at Auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp, he became separated first from his mother and then his father but managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.
Media reviews
Et lykkebarn
Gutten som overlevde Holocaust og ble dommer i Haag"Thomas Buergenthals liv fra han var syv til elleve år gammel kunne ikke vært mer dramatisk. [...] en svært tilgjengelig bok."
– Sten Inge Jørgensen, VG, terningkast 5
10 år gammel hadde Thomas Buergenthal overlevd to
Show More
polske ghettoer, Auschwitz og dødsmarsjen til Sachsenhausen. Odd Nansen berget livet hans i krigens siste dager.
Dette er erindringer fra en barndom som brått ble forvandlet fra idyll til ghettoer og konsentrasjonsleire. Men det er også den gripende historien om gjenforeningen med moren og letingen etter redningsmannen Odd Nansen etter krigen. Vesle «Tommy» ble kjent for tusenvis av norske lesere gjennom Nansens bestselgende dagbok, og det ble et folkekrav i Norge å få vite hvordan det hadde gått med gutten.
Erfaringene fra nazistenes folkemord og vennskapet med Odd Nansen ledet Thomas Buergenthal dit han er idag – til stillingen som dommer i Den internasjonale domstolen i Haag.
Presse"Oppmuntrende selvbiografi fra et barn som overlevde Holocaust. [...] Den mest verdifulle dimensjonen i Buergenthals fremstilling er insisteringen på ærlighet og optimisme selv i en slik grufull kontekst. [...] Avslutningsvis leverer han krystallklare argumenter for at verden tross alt kan bevege seg fremover."
– Sten Inge Jørgensen, VG, terningkast 5
"I´ve never read a holocaust memoir like this. The description of horrors is unflinching, yet full of wry insights into human character and underlying everything is an extraordinary generosity of spirit. But it is also the insights that Buergenthal brings from his work as a distinguished human rights lawyer that make the book quite remarkable. I´ve seldom been so fired up about a book – as we all are."
– Andrew Franklin, Profile Books Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member stellarexplorer
Holocaust memoirs by their nature bear witness to pernicious evil, and record survival and resilience in the face of the most unspeakable suffering. As such, they are of permanent value to humanity. There is ever the need to remember our capacity for the most monstrous malevolence; as well to
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a recent contribution to this important body of testimony. Buergenthal is an attorney, in fact a judge at the International Court of Justice, and one might expect from such a writer complex analysis or at least complex sentence structure. But his account reads easily linguistically, though weighs heavily emotionally.
Buergenthal’s story is unusual for his having been so young during his ordeal. The book recounts his experiences as a ten year old boy in Auschwitz. We see him supported by his father, with him in the camp, as he learns the “street” skills he will need to survive the ordeal of the camp. Suddenly, his father is taken, never to be seen by the boy again. After liberation, we follow young Thomas as he makes his own way in Germany and Poland, always convinced his parents will soon come for him.
His miraculous reunion with his mother some eighteen months later is among the more poignant moments in the book. Buergenthal conveys the tremendous relief that once again he is free to be a child after so long being responsible for himself and his own very survival. Now his mother can be responsible for him, will take care of him, and he can have restored some piece of the childhood that was so violently ripped away from him.
A Lucky Child is a valuable and earnest accounting of a terrible crime and of overcoming. This is not a book whose focus is on the lessons of the Nazi evil, though he considers the matter, or on the deep psychology of the concentration camp, though he reflects on it. Primo Levi or Frankl or Wiesel, superior writers all, will better address those issues. This is a personal book, the story of one child who suffers what no child should. And survives to recover, building a meaningful and productive life of service to others whose rights are denied.
Show More
recall the determination so many have demonstrated to persevere and to endure. Just as life can be snuffed out like a candle, elsewhere it holds on with utter tenacity. A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a recent contribution to this important body of testimony. Buergenthal is an attorney, in fact a judge at the International Court of Justice, and one might expect from such a writer complex analysis or at least complex sentence structure. But his account reads easily linguistically, though weighs heavily emotionally.
Buergenthal’s story is unusual for his having been so young during his ordeal. The book recounts his experiences as a ten year old boy in Auschwitz. We see him supported by his father, with him in the camp, as he learns the “street” skills he will need to survive the ordeal of the camp. Suddenly, his father is taken, never to be seen by the boy again. After liberation, we follow young Thomas as he makes his own way in Germany and Poland, always convinced his parents will soon come for him.
His miraculous reunion with his mother some eighteen months later is among the more poignant moments in the book. Buergenthal conveys the tremendous relief that once again he is free to be a child after so long being responsible for himself and his own very survival. Now his mother can be responsible for him, will take care of him, and he can have restored some piece of the childhood that was so violently ripped away from him.
A Lucky Child is a valuable and earnest accounting of a terrible crime and of overcoming. This is not a book whose focus is on the lessons of the Nazi evil, though he considers the matter, or on the deep psychology of the concentration camp, though he reflects on it. Primo Levi or Frankl or Wiesel, superior writers all, will better address those issues. This is a personal book, the story of one child who suffers what no child should. And survives to recover, building a meaningful and productive life of service to others whose rights are denied.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Whisper1
For those of you who read history books; for those of you who read books regarding WWII, specifically, for those of you who read books regarding the holocaust; for those of you who read any book concerning the "human" condition and the un deniable fact that, despite all odds, there is something
As attested to Karen's (Kiwidoc's) 21 thumbs up review, this is a must read. I cannot write a better review than hers. Ditto everything she said!
Show More
inside of us that clings to hope and to life and to a ray of light in the incredible darkness, may I suggest that you run to your library or nearest bookstore and obtain a copy of Thomas Buergenthal's story of survival.As attested to Karen's (Kiwidoc's) 21 thumbs up review, this is a must read. I cannot write a better review than hers. Ditto everything she said!
Show Less
LibraryThing member DevourerOfBooks
Thomas was very young when Hitler came to power and ended up being one of the youngest prisoners of Auschwitz and Birkenau. Since most of the younger children sent to these camps had to undergo selection upon their arrival, many were not even given the chance to attempt to survive there experiences
Thomas was very young during the war - only days away from his 11th birthday on V.E. Day - and waited more than 50 years to write his memoir. This gives “A Lucky Child” a very different feel from other Holocaust memoirs, such as “Night,” which Elie Wiesel published just 10 years after the war ended, when he was 26. The combination of a child’s view of events and the long reach of memory gives “A Lucky Child” a hazy, almost dream-like quality. The horrors of war and the disturbing reality of what Thomas’s fate might have been are approached in a very matter-of-fact way that can be quite disconcerting. In some ways this made “A Lucky Child” a less emotional book, but without making it at all dry.
In fact, I was amazed at how quickly it read “A Lucky Child” read, although perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. Almost anyone telling sharing their most important childhood memory, something that formed them, that they’ve never been able to forget over the years, is going to be interesting. Add to this the fact that Thomas basically should NOT have survived given the circumstances and the story becomes one you don’t want to interrupt. I was filled with great desire to find out how he managed to live where so many perished and read this whole book in one day.
Although the subject matter is clearly difficult, “A Lucky Child” focuses more on the narrative and less on horrific details, making it a good read both for those who want to understand what happened and those who are cautious about approaching stories such as these, for the emotional difficulties they pose. It was a remarkably well-written memoir and I loved reading at the end how Thomas took his difficult childhood experiences and transformed them into a career working for human rights around the world.
If this topic interests you at all, I highly recommend “A Lucky Child.”
Show More
and were simply killed right away. Thomas, however, was on a train that came from a work camp where most of the young, elderly, and physically weak people had already been slaughtered when the camp was liquidated, so they escaed the horrors of selection. Because of this twist of fate, and ever so many other similar twists of fate, Thomas believes that he was - as a fortune-teller told his mother he would be - a lucky child.Thomas was very young during the war - only days away from his 11th birthday on V.E. Day - and waited more than 50 years to write his memoir. This gives “A Lucky Child” a very different feel from other Holocaust memoirs, such as “Night,” which Elie Wiesel published just 10 years after the war ended, when he was 26. The combination of a child’s view of events and the long reach of memory gives “A Lucky Child” a hazy, almost dream-like quality. The horrors of war and the disturbing reality of what Thomas’s fate might have been are approached in a very matter-of-fact way that can be quite disconcerting. In some ways this made “A Lucky Child” a less emotional book, but without making it at all dry.
In fact, I was amazed at how quickly it read “A Lucky Child” read, although perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised. Almost anyone telling sharing their most important childhood memory, something that formed them, that they’ve never been able to forget over the years, is going to be interesting. Add to this the fact that Thomas basically should NOT have survived given the circumstances and the story becomes one you don’t want to interrupt. I was filled with great desire to find out how he managed to live where so many perished and read this whole book in one day.
Although the subject matter is clearly difficult, “A Lucky Child” focuses more on the narrative and less on horrific details, making it a good read both for those who want to understand what happened and those who are cautious about approaching stories such as these, for the emotional difficulties they pose. It was a remarkably well-written memoir and I loved reading at the end how Thomas took his difficult childhood experiences and transformed them into a career working for human rights around the world.
If this topic interests you at all, I highly recommend “A Lucky Child.”
Show Less
LibraryThing member atelier
This is the poignant memoir of survival in the Nazi terror and death camps by a child who was only ten years old when liberated in 1945, having survived Auschwitz. As with every time I try to contemplate the kind of horror that supposedly civilized human beings can inflict on other human beings, I
Show More
found in this intensely personal story thoroughly uplifting. The author is currently the American judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. A well-written and deeply personal telling of this touching story. Show Less
LibraryThing member Dufva
As sombre, as these books often are, enough of these stories could not be told. As an attorney, Buergenthal’s career fascinated me. Buergenthal received law degrees from New York University Law School and Harvard Law School and devoted his life to international and human rights law. Having served
Buergenthal was only ten when he found himself at Auschwitz. Along the way, his father had devised ways for him to survive and avoid “being selected”. His memoir tells his amazing story of surviving the ghettos, labor camps and being separated from his parents as a ten year old child. Starved to the point of malnutrition, his father had warned him against eating food found in the garbage.
In the last days of the war, now separated from his parents, he endured the Auschwitz death march. They walked 70km in three days, living on stale bread and handfuls of snow. Many collapsed and died or were shot by the roadside.
As in all Holocaust memoirs, it is the randomness that is as horrible as anything.
Show More
on various human rights committees, he believes that his Holocaust experience has had a very substantial impact on the human being he became. Buergenthal says it impacted “on his life as an international law professor, human rights lawyer, and international judge. It might seem obvious that my past would draw me to human rights and to international law, whether or not I knew it at the time. In any event, it equipped me to be a better human rights lawyer, if only because I understood, not only intellectually but also emotionally, what it is like to be a victim of human rights violations I could, after all, feel it in my bones".Buergenthal was only ten when he found himself at Auschwitz. Along the way, his father had devised ways for him to survive and avoid “being selected”. His memoir tells his amazing story of surviving the ghettos, labor camps and being separated from his parents as a ten year old child. Starved to the point of malnutrition, his father had warned him against eating food found in the garbage.
In the last days of the war, now separated from his parents, he endured the Auschwitz death march. They walked 70km in three days, living on stale bread and handfuls of snow. Many collapsed and died or were shot by the roadside.
As in all Holocaust memoirs, it is the randomness that is as horrible as anything.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jo-jo
This is a wonderful memoir that Thomas Buergenthal has created that not only gives us a glimpse of what it took for him to survive during such a vicious period of history, but also how these events helped to make him into the man that he is today. Buergenthal does a great job of sharing how his
The title of this book comes from the idea that Thomas' mother truly believed that he was a lucky child because of what a fortune teller told her many years before. After reading some of the things that Thomas had to endure throughout his ordeal, it is definitely hard to disagree with her. Isn't it curious that when he was in Auschwitz a boy that he slept with on the same bunk came down with diptheria, while Thomas never showed any symptoms at all? Considering how young he was and having a low immune system I find this to be a miracle in itself.
Before the Holocaust, Thomas' parents own a beautiful hotel that was very profitable. When his father learns what the Nazi regime is doing to Jewish families and businesses he decides to sell everything so they will have enough money to live on and hopefully not draw any attention to themselves. Of course they do not expect the extent of power that the Nazi's will have, because before they know it they have spent all of their savings and find they have no other choice but to move into one of the ghettos. They are thankful to be around friends again, but eventually realize that they will be taken away to a work camp.
After living at Auschwitz for some time, Thomas does become separated from his parents and will not know for quite some time if they are even alive. His creativity, intelligence, and wits help him to survive the abuse of the German guards and from being selected by Dr. Mengele for experiments. How such a young, innocent child could survive these conditions and the Auschwitz Death March is amazing to me...and once again lucky.
Buergenthal admits to us early in this book that there are many events that he does not recall as he decided to write this book very late in his life. He shares that it may have been difficult to write about his Holocaust experience shortly after it happened and it may have taken him longer to recover. But his experiences did help to shape him into the person that he has become and be a very active and successful human rights lawyer.
I appreciate how Buergenthal honestly shared his feelings and emotions with us, especially his state of mind after the war was over. When he was still a young boy and living in liberated Germany he wanted revenge on many of his German neighbors with such a fierce intensity. He cannot understand how these same people just a couple of years before would not even look at him on the street and now they smile at him as nothing had happened. Once he is able to deal with his feelings he shares the shame that he felt for the vengeance that he so desparately wanted at that young age.
I am so thankful to Thomas Buergenthal for taking the time at this stage of his life for putting together this memoir for us. Not only does it give us a glimps as to what he had to endure, but also how he dealt with his conflicting emotions. I could feel the different stages of healing and forgiveness among the pages and this obviously helped him to become the person he was meant to be. This book includes a map and a few pictures that help you feel a little closer to his family and what a cute young boy he was! I highly recommend this book!
Show More
emotions changed from fear, to anger, and eventually forgiveness once he was able to finally heal.The title of this book comes from the idea that Thomas' mother truly believed that he was a lucky child because of what a fortune teller told her many years before. After reading some of the things that Thomas had to endure throughout his ordeal, it is definitely hard to disagree with her. Isn't it curious that when he was in Auschwitz a boy that he slept with on the same bunk came down with diptheria, while Thomas never showed any symptoms at all? Considering how young he was and having a low immune system I find this to be a miracle in itself.
Before the Holocaust, Thomas' parents own a beautiful hotel that was very profitable. When his father learns what the Nazi regime is doing to Jewish families and businesses he decides to sell everything so they will have enough money to live on and hopefully not draw any attention to themselves. Of course they do not expect the extent of power that the Nazi's will have, because before they know it they have spent all of their savings and find they have no other choice but to move into one of the ghettos. They are thankful to be around friends again, but eventually realize that they will be taken away to a work camp.
After living at Auschwitz for some time, Thomas does become separated from his parents and will not know for quite some time if they are even alive. His creativity, intelligence, and wits help him to survive the abuse of the German guards and from being selected by Dr. Mengele for experiments. How such a young, innocent child could survive these conditions and the Auschwitz Death March is amazing to me...and once again lucky.
Buergenthal admits to us early in this book that there are many events that he does not recall as he decided to write this book very late in his life. He shares that it may have been difficult to write about his Holocaust experience shortly after it happened and it may have taken him longer to recover. But his experiences did help to shape him into the person that he has become and be a very active and successful human rights lawyer.
I appreciate how Buergenthal honestly shared his feelings and emotions with us, especially his state of mind after the war was over. When he was still a young boy and living in liberated Germany he wanted revenge on many of his German neighbors with such a fierce intensity. He cannot understand how these same people just a couple of years before would not even look at him on the street and now they smile at him as nothing had happened. Once he is able to deal with his feelings he shares the shame that he felt for the vengeance that he so desparately wanted at that young age.
I am so thankful to Thomas Buergenthal for taking the time at this stage of his life for putting together this memoir for us. Not only does it give us a glimps as to what he had to endure, but also how he dealt with his conflicting emotions. I could feel the different stages of healing and forgiveness among the pages and this obviously helped him to become the person he was meant to be. This book includes a map and a few pictures that help you feel a little closer to his family and what a cute young boy he was! I highly recommend this book!
Show Less
LibraryThing member readingaria
Most memoirs are slow readers for me but I enjoyed A Lucky Child. I don’t normally find myself sucked in but Mr. Buergenthal, who has since served as a judge for The Hague and done a lot of work in the area of International Law of Human Rights, wrote very simply and tried to tell his story. It
Buergenthal tells many different stories and shows many people responding to their circumstances in many different ways. The detachment he has makes it so that Buergenthal isn’t just pointing the finger at anyone or painting any one group as the good or bad guys. Nor does he ignore the fact that Nazi Germany went after several groups. In the chapter on his time in Auschwitz, he makes the point to tell the story of when a group of Kapos, Jews who worked for the Germans within the camps to gain extra privileges and safety, beat up and killed a man who had just arrived at the camp. Buergenthal is very honest in his memoir and I found that I appreciated it.
Altogether, this was a quick readable addition to the narrative of the Holocaust. While this one isn’t earth shattering or very different from any other story, it is important as a reminder of what happened and how different people responded to this time in history.
Show More
mostly consisted of small anecdotes building up into his remembrances of the war. Because Buergenthal waited more than half a century before putting his story to paper, there is a sort of detachment to the writing. Buergenthal had these experiences but he has lived a long life and can look back with less pain than if he had written this book in the 1950’s.Buergenthal tells many different stories and shows many people responding to their circumstances in many different ways. The detachment he has makes it so that Buergenthal isn’t just pointing the finger at anyone or painting any one group as the good or bad guys. Nor does he ignore the fact that Nazi Germany went after several groups. In the chapter on his time in Auschwitz, he makes the point to tell the story of when a group of Kapos, Jews who worked for the Germans within the camps to gain extra privileges and safety, beat up and killed a man who had just arrived at the camp. Buergenthal is very honest in his memoir and I found that I appreciated it.
Altogether, this was a quick readable addition to the narrative of the Holocaust. While this one isn’t earth shattering or very different from any other story, it is important as a reminder of what happened and how different people responded to this time in history.
Show Less
LibraryThing member nabhill
Thomas Buergenthal’s dispassionate memoir A Lucky Child is not just the story of concentration camps and hunger, the death march and frost-bitten toes later amputated, but also the story of learning to ride a bicycle, sneaking a drink of milk, and friends such as Michael, Janek and Odd Nansen.
Show More
Buergenthal recounts two experiences in a train station in Berlin: a woman exclaiming “It stinks again of Jews” and a SS guard who shared a warm drink of coffee. He ponders the hatred of one and the compassion of the other and draws the conclusion that generalizations do not help us understand or explain the Holocaust or any of the other genocides or mass murders of more recent times. Now a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Buergenthal determined that the past would not have destructive but rather an inspirational effect on his life. A Lucky Child is an exceptional book, written with simplicity and clarity. Show Less
LibraryThing member kentlibrarysuffield
This is one of those rare books that one dreads reading because of the subject matter and then is pleasantly surprised and almost uplifted by it.
A very difficult read, a terrible experience for a child, but the outcome, his reunion with family and his accomplishments as an adult make this book more
A very difficult read, a terrible experience for a child, but the outcome, his reunion with family and his accomplishments as an adult make this book more
Show More
than worthwhile to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member tjsjohanna
I found myself amazed and touched by the experiences Mr. Buergenthal recounts in his memoir. While the author takes a somewhat less emotional look at his childhood - still, I found myself at times stopping to imagine what his experiences might have felt like. That he found the ability to take such
Show More
horrifying experiences and turn them into a drive for something better is so admirable. The personal photos really brought home to me the fact that Mr. Buergenthal lost so much of his family. This is a readable look at one man's childhood experiences as a concentration camp survivor - and as he himself states: "the individual story of each Holocaust survivor is a valuable addition to the history of the Holocaust." This is certainly a welcome addition. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lilac_Lily01
"A Lucky Child" is the moving tale of Thomas Buergenthal who as a young boy survived the Nazi concentration camps. This memoir was very touching and the pictures in the book made everything more real. It's hard to understand how anyone can live through something as horrific as a holocaust and not
Show More
be broken by it. Yet Buergenthal is a great example of that. Show Less
LibraryThing member dreamreader
I became immersed in literature of the Holocaust - both personal accounts and fiction - while a student at Simmons College in the 60's, where Professor Lawrence Langer taught a course on the subject, and so I felt fortunate to be sent an advance copy of Thomas Buergenthal's "A Lucky Child". The
Show More
author states up front that his memories may be clouded by the passage of time regarding events he may have personally witnessed versus those he heard talked about, and about specific chronology. That in no way detracts from his personal testament as a survivor of this atrocity. With the perspective of time and a life lived in the service of human rights, his narrative stands with those of Elie Weisel and others who have survived as voices for a population and culture eradicated by evil. As the population of survivors dwindles, these personal accounts become more imperative. Show Less
LibraryThing member labfs39
I have read many memoirs of Jews who survived the Holocaust, but this one stands out in my mind, although I can't quite put my finger on why. It may be his extreme youth and the extraordinary fact of his having survived Auschwitz at the age of ten, even after losing the protective presence of both
"They have forced me to reflect on what it is that allows or compels human beings to commit such cruel and brutal crimes. It frightens me terribly that the individuals committing these acts are for the most part not sadists, but ordinary people who go home in the evening to their families, washing their hands before sitting down to dinner, as if what they had been doing was just a job like any other. If we humans can so easily wash the blood of our fellow humans off our hands, then what hope is there for sparing future generations from a repeat of th genocides and mass killings of the past?"
Show More
parents. It may be the unusual fate of the boy after his release from the camps: becoming a mascot of the Polish army and the miracle of being reunited with a family member thought perished. Or maybe it is simply the tone of the book, measured, thoughful, and reflective on the events that shaped his illustrious career as an international human rights judge. I think perhaps it may simply be the innocent joy and beauty present in the face of the little boy captured in photos with his parents that are included in the book. If this epitome of youthful exuberance and simple childish joy can be treated so callously and cruelly, with casual disdain, than how can we hope to avert less obvious evil? "They have forced me to reflect on what it is that allows or compels human beings to commit such cruel and brutal crimes. It frightens me terribly that the individuals committing these acts are for the most part not sadists, but ordinary people who go home in the evening to their families, washing their hands before sitting down to dinner, as if what they had been doing was just a job like any other. If we humans can so easily wash the blood of our fellow humans off our hands, then what hope is there for sparing future generations from a repeat of th genocides and mass killings of the past?"
Show Less
LibraryThing member awssis
This was an amazing book! For Thomas to tell his story as a child surviving, was heartbreaking, yet he told his story in such a way you could see light where I thought none could have existed. His telling of the events after the camps were liberated were very interesting, I had read very little on
Show More
this, and found it amazing that after all these survivors had endured, he just couldn't be returned to his mother because he didn't have the proper paperwork to cross the borders!!! Great read, I highly recommend A Lucky Child due to the unique perspective. Show Less
LibraryThing member lmikkel
This memoir was a gripping read. The story of Buergenthal's survival, against all odds, in the Nazi death camps, is told in a measured tone. Mr. Buergenthal waited many years to write his story because he wanted to distance himself from the painful events he describes. The distance that he achieves
Show More
helps his narrative in the sense that we receive it intellectually rather than emotionally. To perceive the events of the Nazi era without drama is to perceive anew the horrors that were perpetrated in that time. I was especially moved by Mr. Buergenthal's realization that his survival was entirely due to luck. Although his parents prepared him to take advantage of any opportunities to survive that came his way, luck was the determining factor time and again in the story of his survival. His experiences as a child during the war determined his future career and Mr. Buergenthal devoted his career to the protection of human rights. He takes the opportunity in his book to remind the reader that human rights violations still occur, despite the many lessons our society has had, and that we all need to be vigilant on behalf of the rights of human beings everywhere. I highly recommend this book. Show Less
LibraryThing member Lallybroch
I've always been fascinated by the Holocaust. I've been amazed by how good people could treat other human beings so terribly, and how so many people were able to withstand such atrocious treatment and conditions to survive. That such a young child was able to survive is even more amazing.
Mr
If you are interested in the Holocaust and life in the concentration camps, this is an easy to read memoir that gives you a glimpse into some of the most notorious camps. The books also includes a map and photos. I loved the pictures! Sometimes when reading I would forget just how young Buergenthal was while living in the camps, and these pictures helped remind me
Mr
Show More
Buergenthal waited quite some time to write his memoir. He explains in the preface that he wanted a little distance from the experience before he wrote about it. While this is certainly understandable, I think this distance from the events did come through in the writing. The story wasn't lacking in emotion by any means, but I didn't have the sense of immediacy that I've gotten from some other Holocaust memoirs I've read.If you are interested in the Holocaust and life in the concentration camps, this is an easy to read memoir that gives you a glimpse into some of the most notorious camps. The books also includes a map and photos. I loved the pictures! Sometimes when reading I would forget just how young Buergenthal was while living in the camps, and these pictures helped remind me
Show Less
LibraryThing member nbmars
Thomas Buergenthal is an amazing example of someone who managed to survive the Holocaust in spite of being above all, a small Jewish child. He passed through a series of nightmarish hurdles that included routine extermination of children, train transports, forced marches, concentration camps,
He says he wanted to tell his story because “I have long believed that the Holocaust cannot be fully understood unless we look at it through the eyes of those who lived through it. To speak of the Holocaust in terms of numbers – six million – which is the way it is usually done, is to unintentionally dehumanize the victims and to trivialize the profoundly human tragedy it was.”
Buergenthal decided to “remember living it as the child I was, not as an old man reflecting on that life.” This is important, because his memoir is not characterized by an historical account of the Holocaust in a traditional sense, nor does it offer any sociological analysis of what happened. He does raise a number of moral questions that have occurred to him since childhood, because it was the seeking of answers to them that informed his choice of career (serving on a number of tribunals for international and human rights law).
To me, this perspective from a child’s point of view gives his account a uniqueness and verisimilitude that would not have been possible from the perspective of an adult. I believe it would be a mistake to consider such an approach as “minimizing” the horror of the Holocaust just because the landscape we see is filtered through the very narrow set of lenses of a young boy. This too, is truth, as it happened for Buergenthal.
Buergenthal tries to help pinpoint why it was that he was so “lucky” to have survived, and to have done so virtually unscathed. One reason was that he was very “Aryan” looking, which may have induced some of the German guards to have sympathy for him. Another is that he was multilingual, and therefore could make himself quite useful to camp officials. Third, his father taught him some tricks for surviving without fear, and encouraged him to fight back against any and all unjust circumstances. Fourth, his unique status in the camps as a young child (and apparently one quite likeable) seemed to draw other prisoners to him who gave him help. So many of the adults in the camps had seen their own young children literally turn to ashes. But Tommy, as he was known, was a golden promise of hope for the survival of another generation.
Buergenthal has tried and failed to understand the cycle of hate and violence that inexplicably can take hold of mankind. But he fervently wants to help disrupt it. He says we owe it to those who perished “to try to improve each in our own way, the lives of others.” In the field of international human rights law, Buergenthal has tried to work “for a world in which the rights and dignity of human beings everywhere would be protected.”
I think you can get an excellent, if partial, understanding of the Holocaust from this book. You will not get a cataloguing of names, numbers and atrocities, as you do in so many histories. You will not learn about the abuses and genocidal frenzy that went on in many countries or camps that were totally outside this young boy’s experiences. But if only you come to understand just how unique he was, merely to have survived as a young Jewish child, you will understand a great deal.
Highly recommended.
Show More
selections for elimination within the camps, and the perils of disease, starvation, and arbitrary murder.He says he wanted to tell his story because “I have long believed that the Holocaust cannot be fully understood unless we look at it through the eyes of those who lived through it. To speak of the Holocaust in terms of numbers – six million – which is the way it is usually done, is to unintentionally dehumanize the victims and to trivialize the profoundly human tragedy it was.”
Buergenthal decided to “remember living it as the child I was, not as an old man reflecting on that life.” This is important, because his memoir is not characterized by an historical account of the Holocaust in a traditional sense, nor does it offer any sociological analysis of what happened. He does raise a number of moral questions that have occurred to him since childhood, because it was the seeking of answers to them that informed his choice of career (serving on a number of tribunals for international and human rights law).
To me, this perspective from a child’s point of view gives his account a uniqueness and verisimilitude that would not have been possible from the perspective of an adult. I believe it would be a mistake to consider such an approach as “minimizing” the horror of the Holocaust just because the landscape we see is filtered through the very narrow set of lenses of a young boy. This too, is truth, as it happened for Buergenthal.
Buergenthal tries to help pinpoint why it was that he was so “lucky” to have survived, and to have done so virtually unscathed. One reason was that he was very “Aryan” looking, which may have induced some of the German guards to have sympathy for him. Another is that he was multilingual, and therefore could make himself quite useful to camp officials. Third, his father taught him some tricks for surviving without fear, and encouraged him to fight back against any and all unjust circumstances. Fourth, his unique status in the camps as a young child (and apparently one quite likeable) seemed to draw other prisoners to him who gave him help. So many of the adults in the camps had seen their own young children literally turn to ashes. But Tommy, as he was known, was a golden promise of hope for the survival of another generation.
Buergenthal has tried and failed to understand the cycle of hate and violence that inexplicably can take hold of mankind. But he fervently wants to help disrupt it. He says we owe it to those who perished “to try to improve each in our own way, the lives of others.” In the field of international human rights law, Buergenthal has tried to work “for a world in which the rights and dignity of human beings everywhere would be protected.”
I think you can get an excellent, if partial, understanding of the Holocaust from this book. You will not get a cataloguing of names, numbers and atrocities, as you do in so many histories. You will not learn about the abuses and genocidal frenzy that went on in many countries or camps that were totally outside this young boy’s experiences. But if only you come to understand just how unique he was, merely to have survived as a young Jewish child, you will understand a great deal.
Highly recommended.
Show Less
LibraryThing member melissas09
A Lucky Child: A memoir of surviving Auschwitz as a young boy
by Thomas Buergenthal
This amazing story is about survival, not only his actual, physical survival of the horrors of the Holocaust, but the survival of the human spirit. It is not a "Holocaust story," but a human story; a story of a young
Written as a recollection of his childhood, the story takes us from the early days of WW II, through his time in Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, his journey home after the liberation, and his life in post-war Germany. Buergenthal tells the story of the people in this tragic era in human history, not with bitterness, but with honesty and compassion. As an adult, looking back on his experiences, he asks readers, "What is it in the human character that gives some individuals the moral strength not to sacrifice their decency and dignity, regardless of the costs to themselves, whereas others become murderously ruthless in the hope of ensuring their own survival?"
This inspiring book tells the story of only a few of the many who experienced the Holocaust, from a very personal, human viewpoint. A story that could only be told through a child's eyes. A "lucky child" indeed. And a lucky world, that we have people like Thomas Buergenthal, who could survive something so horrible, and go on to fight for the basic rights of people everywhere, in hopes of "creating a world in which our grandchildren and their descendants can live in peace and enjoy the human rights that were denied to so many" of his generation.
by Thomas Buergenthal
This amazing story is about survival, not only his actual, physical survival of the horrors of the Holocaust, but the survival of the human spirit. It is not a "Holocaust story," but a human story; a story of a young
Show More
boy who, against all odds, lived to tell his story, and went on to be a champion for the rights of humans all over the world. Written as a recollection of his childhood, the story takes us from the early days of WW II, through his time in Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen, his journey home after the liberation, and his life in post-war Germany. Buergenthal tells the story of the people in this tragic era in human history, not with bitterness, but with honesty and compassion. As an adult, looking back on his experiences, he asks readers, "What is it in the human character that gives some individuals the moral strength not to sacrifice their decency and dignity, regardless of the costs to themselves, whereas others become murderously ruthless in the hope of ensuring their own survival?"
This inspiring book tells the story of only a few of the many who experienced the Holocaust, from a very personal, human viewpoint. A story that could only be told through a child's eyes. A "lucky child" indeed. And a lucky world, that we have people like Thomas Buergenthal, who could survive something so horrible, and go on to fight for the basic rights of people everywhere, in hopes of "creating a world in which our grandchildren and their descendants can live in peace and enjoy the human rights that were denied to so many" of his generation.
Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal
Although originally written in English, this book was published in several other countries before a U.K. or U.S. publisher would issue it in English, the thought being that there were already "enough" Holocaust
Buergenthal wrote his story more than 50 years after the events he describes. However, he is able to skillfully capture and convey his experiences and emotions through the eyes of a child. He was only 4 years old when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and just 10 when he was rescued, barely alive, from a concentration camp. In each of the camps he inhabited, he was usually the youngest prisoner. Because he was so young when his ordeal began, he knew no other life, and so observes events without context. He quickly learns the necessities for survival.
His mother attributed his survival to good luck, since when he was an infant a fortune-teller had told her that he was a "lucky" child. His story, however, shows that his survival was more than a matter of luck: the quick thinking and wits of his parents, the compassion of strangers, the support of his friends all played a part, in ensuring that he lived to relate his remarkable story.
Highly recommended.
4 stars
Although originally written in English, this book was published in several other countries before a U.K. or U.S. publisher would issue it in English, the thought being that there were already "enough" Holocaust
Show More
survivor stories. Buergenthal, a judge on the International Court of Justice in the Hague, and a Holocaust survivor, feels that to speak in terms of numbers is to dehumanize the victims and to trivialize the tragedy. Each Holocaust survivor has a personal and unique story to tell, and each must be heard.Buergenthal wrote his story more than 50 years after the events he describes. However, he is able to skillfully capture and convey his experiences and emotions through the eyes of a child. He was only 4 years old when Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, and just 10 when he was rescued, barely alive, from a concentration camp. In each of the camps he inhabited, he was usually the youngest prisoner. Because he was so young when his ordeal began, he knew no other life, and so observes events without context. He quickly learns the necessities for survival.
His mother attributed his survival to good luck, since when he was an infant a fortune-teller had told her that he was a "lucky" child. His story, however, shows that his survival was more than a matter of luck: the quick thinking and wits of his parents, the compassion of strangers, the support of his friends all played a part, in ensuring that he lived to relate his remarkable story.
Highly recommended.
4 stars
Show Less
LibraryThing member jcovington
I recieved this book some time ago and only recently got the chance to read it. My wife saw it on my nightstand and commandeered it, unable to put it down. I wasn't either. The author's story is told in a detached way, which is understandable, since he is writing on the events of his childhood
It is a beautiful story, with the joys of childhood interwoven with the pain of the events he lived through and, I think, this adds an uplifting message to what could have been a catalogue of horror.
Show More
while in his 80s, but also, it seems that most Holocaust memoirs are written that way. It must be hard to revisit such terrible places in the memory.It is a beautiful story, with the joys of childhood interwoven with the pain of the events he lived through and, I think, this adds an uplifting message to what could have been a catalogue of horror.
Show Less
LibraryThing member veevoxvoom
Summary: Thomas Buerganthal relates his experiences as a child growing up under the Nazi regime and his survival in the concentration camps, as well as his life after the war.
Review: I've read a lot of Holocaust memoirs, and I agree with Buergenthal when he says that each one is important. When he
The question, of course, is how much can he remember? Quite a lot, it seems like, although he admits right away that some of the memories may come from his mother's recollection rather than his. Still, it's a startlingly clear portrait filled with the emotions, blind spots, and gut instincts of a child. Buergenthal's older voice narrating the events tempers his experiences with retrospect and wisdom, but the child's voice is not lost.
I do think that the first half of the book about his experiences during the war were more compelling than the second half, where he escapes the camps and learns to rebuild his life. However, the second half does offer valuable insight, especially since Buergenthal stays in Germany. I've often wondered how Jewish people who stayed in Germany after the Holocaust coped with that, and Buergenthal gives me the answer: uneasily.
His experiences as an adult working for human rights ties up the package with a broader, overarching theme about what humans can do to each other.
Conclusion: Worth reading, especially for the child's perspective.
Review: I've read a lot of Holocaust memoirs, and I agree with Buergenthal when he says that each one is important. When he
Show More
talks about how US and UK publishers told him "Holocaust stories don't sell", I shared his uneasiness. It is only by telling the story that we can put a face to the numbers, that we can learn more about humanity. The thing that stood out about Buerganthal's memoirs was that I had never read an account of the camps by a child survivor. This isn't that important -- child or adult, the story would have been just as powerful -- but it does make for an interesting difference.The question, of course, is how much can he remember? Quite a lot, it seems like, although he admits right away that some of the memories may come from his mother's recollection rather than his. Still, it's a startlingly clear portrait filled with the emotions, blind spots, and gut instincts of a child. Buergenthal's older voice narrating the events tempers his experiences with retrospect and wisdom, but the child's voice is not lost.
I do think that the first half of the book about his experiences during the war were more compelling than the second half, where he escapes the camps and learns to rebuild his life. However, the second half does offer valuable insight, especially since Buergenthal stays in Germany. I've often wondered how Jewish people who stayed in Germany after the Holocaust coped with that, and Buergenthal gives me the answer: uneasily.
His experiences as an adult working for human rights ties up the package with a broader, overarching theme about what humans can do to each other.
Conclusion: Worth reading, especially for the child's perspective.
Show Less
LibraryThing member jwhenderson
This is yet another memoir of the gruesome reality of the holocaust. From personal experience as a child, Thomas Buergenthal, now a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, relates his story in clear prose which makes it a fast, gripping read. Five years old in Czechoslovakia at
Show More
the start of World War II, Buergenthal remembers being crowded into the ghetto and then, in 1944, feeling “lucky” to escape the gas chambers and get into Auschwitz, where he witnessed daily hangings and beatings, but with the help of a few adults, managed to survive. I found this an excellent book that holds its own with other similar stories I have read; Ivan Klima's short account of his childhood in The Spirit of Prague and Elie Wiesel's Night come to mind as examples, both better in my judgment. However, this is certainly a welcome addition to the literature of the holocaust that we need to keep reading lest the past be forgotten. Show Less
LibraryThing member cherrycoker
Thomas' story is powerful. I was impressed by how clear his writing is of such a tramatic experience, especially for someone so young. I am amazed that his experiences didn't make him into a hateful or frightened person. Thomas is an inspiration to us all.
LibraryThing member thisismebecca
The story of Thomas Buergenthal's childhood is one that will be surprising, surreal, and a tearjerker.
Thomas was a young boy of six when he and his parents were forced into a Jewish ghetto in Poland. Thomas watched as German soldiers came and took men and community leaders away and noticed they
The family stayed in the ghetto for a couple of years and then worked in labor camps for a couple of years before they were sent to Auschwitz. Thomas was separated from his parents so the ten-year-old "lucky child", as the fortune-teller told his mother many years ago that he was, used his wits and charm, as well as some luck, and managed to survive Auschwitz. By some stroke of luck, after three years of many different adventures, Thomas was reunited with his mother and in 1951 he moved to America.
I liked the way Buergenthal wrote his story. I liked his choices of anecdotes. I liked his use of clever phrases and carefully selected adjectives and adverbs. I liked that there were photos of him and his parents, he as a small boy, and then later, after Auschwitz.
I was very touched by his movement and determination to spread the word about human rights violations. He is now a judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Even though I know children are very resilient, I was still stunned by this child's resilience in the face of such adversity and horror. He witnessed things no person, let alone a child, should ever have to witness.
While The Diary of Anne Frank is a wonderful story about the discrimination and hatred of the Jewish people and what hiding out for years to escape death was like during WWII, Buergenthal's story is told from right there in the thick of everything. He was not hidden, he was there in the camps. He was there escaping the gas chambers only to bear witness to horrible beatings, hangings, and shootings. I think that this book could seriously be the next great book about the Holocaust. I highly recommend it.
Some passages from the book:
"Every so often, we heard that this or that community leader or some other person had been picked up by the Gestapo, never to be seen again. My father and mother would discuss these events in whispered tones. Then I would hear one of them say that the victims must have been denounced to the Gestapo by our own people and that one had to be very careful what one said and to whom. 'Yes, the walls have ears..."
"The bodies of the prisoners were left hanging for a few days near the entrance to the barrack as a warning against further escape attempts. There were to be other executions in Henrykow. As time went on, they became routine; but I remember only the first."
"While I do believe that I survived the Holocaust in order to devote my life to the protection of human rights, I believe that, having survived, I have an obligation to try to do all I can to spare others, wherever they might be, from suffering a fate similar to that of the victims of the Holocaust."
Thomas was a young boy of six when he and his parents were forced into a Jewish ghetto in Poland. Thomas watched as German soldiers came and took men and community leaders away and noticed they
Show More
never returned. He watched the raids from his window. He heard the whisperings of his parents about the newest developments.The family stayed in the ghetto for a couple of years and then worked in labor camps for a couple of years before they were sent to Auschwitz. Thomas was separated from his parents so the ten-year-old "lucky child", as the fortune-teller told his mother many years ago that he was, used his wits and charm, as well as some luck, and managed to survive Auschwitz. By some stroke of luck, after three years of many different adventures, Thomas was reunited with his mother and in 1951 he moved to America.
I liked the way Buergenthal wrote his story. I liked his choices of anecdotes. I liked his use of clever phrases and carefully selected adjectives and adverbs. I liked that there were photos of him and his parents, he as a small boy, and then later, after Auschwitz.
I was very touched by his movement and determination to spread the word about human rights violations. He is now a judge at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. Even though I know children are very resilient, I was still stunned by this child's resilience in the face of such adversity and horror. He witnessed things no person, let alone a child, should ever have to witness.
While The Diary of Anne Frank is a wonderful story about the discrimination and hatred of the Jewish people and what hiding out for years to escape death was like during WWII, Buergenthal's story is told from right there in the thick of everything. He was not hidden, he was there in the camps. He was there escaping the gas chambers only to bear witness to horrible beatings, hangings, and shootings. I think that this book could seriously be the next great book about the Holocaust. I highly recommend it.
Some passages from the book:
"Every so often, we heard that this or that community leader or some other person had been picked up by the Gestapo, never to be seen again. My father and mother would discuss these events in whispered tones. Then I would hear one of them say that the victims must have been denounced to the Gestapo by our own people and that one had to be very careful what one said and to whom. 'Yes, the walls have ears..."
"The bodies of the prisoners were left hanging for a few days near the entrance to the barrack as a warning against further escape attempts. There were to be other executions in Henrykow. As time went on, they became routine; but I remember only the first."
"While I do believe that I survived the Holocaust in order to devote my life to the protection of human rights, I believe that, having survived, I have an obligation to try to do all I can to spare others, wherever they might be, from suffering a fate similar to that of the victims of the Holocaust."
Show Less
LibraryThing member Bookish59
While moving, I found this memoir to be tightly controlled, especially toward the end, almost emotionless. Most likely this is due to Buergenthal writing this half a century after its occurence.
He has lived an amazing life. And was able to succeed, thrive and learn despite the evil and horror he
He has lived an amazing life. And was able to succeed, thrive and learn despite the evil and horror he
Show More
experienced and witnessed as a child. Certainly the rare moments of incredible humanity, compassion and normalcy helped Thomas maintain his sanity, his optimism, and his will to live. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Dayton Literary Peace Prize (Longlist — Nonfiction — 2010)
Sophie Brody Medal (Honorable Mention — 2010)
Language
Original publication date
2007 {Germany}
2009-4-20 {U.S.}
Physical description
xvii, 228 p.; 22 cm
ISBN
9781846681783
Local notes
Donated by Joan Yona Foster, August 2022.