A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal (2015-04-07)

Tom Buergenthal's autobiography is morally uplifting and will sustain faith in humanity's moral potential. I am proposing that is become a required reading for every seminarian in our theological schools today. Rev. Dennis Kuby

This is the personal story of one of the youngest survivors of the holocaust. The author is a well known judge of the International Court of Justice and a former judge of the Inter American Court of Human Rights. A very touching story, recommended.

This book not only takes you through his journey through the death camps, but also how he ha positively affected the world since the end of the Holocaust. Definitely a great read and I highly recommend it!

A Lucky Child is about Thomas Buergenthal and his experiences as a child in World War II. He, along with his parents survived four years in a ghetto, two camps, including Auschwitz, and the Auschwitz death march. He and his mother survived the war, sadly his father did not. The most amazing part to me, was that the author was only about eleven years old at the end of the war, making him one of the few children to survive the war, plus being so young. A great story that I highly recommend reading.

I read several memoirs of the Holocaust and although this one was interesting, it was not my favorite. I prefer All But My Life by Gerda Weismann and Mans Search For meaning by Victor Frankl. Still it was a story worth reading and I share books like this with friends.

The author, Thomas Buergenthal, sounds like a wonderful man, who not only lived through the holocaust, but managed to slip through the deadly maze of Nazi murder in some of the most notorious death camps. His survival and ultimate reunification with his mother (who also managed to avoid death in the camps), was a miracle. However, other books do a much better job in detailing the horrors of the camps (see for example, "I escaped from Auschwitz", by Rudolf Vrba, Barricade Books, 2002), in explaining the frailty of life, and the daily horrors visited upon those held by the Nazis. Knowing that Mr. Buegenthal ultimately immigrated to America, and rose to the professional level of an accomplished Judge, I was yearning to learn of his road through college, law school, and his advancement through professional ranks. How nice it would have been to learn of his advancement, and his marriage etc. Indeed, I was shocked to learn that he lived in my home town where he started his professional career. None of this is included in his book. How disappointing! Perhaps a second volume will be written. In conclusion, this book is just ok. I can't recommend it for the aforestated reasons.

There are much better books out there about the holocaust, and surviving the horrors of the concentration camps. This was different because of the perspective of a child, but the author wrote the book as a grown man from his memories.

I have read many accounts of concentration camp survivors and usually find them uplifting and fascinating. Undoubtedly the man who wrote this book, and lived through these terrible experiences is a fine person- but I found his account very cut and dried. This is not a book that you can't wait to finish- definitely not a page-turner! Very little detail and just rote recitation of events makes this uninteresting. Not much insight into the true character of the family - just skims the surface. Very forgetable. I should have waited to purchase this when it went on sale. Not worth 11.00.

I have been sharing my Holocaust experience with hundreds of life audiences. To one of the most frequent questions "how did you survive?" my reply is "I do not know, I have no clear cut answer; it is a combination of factors that I am, or I am not aware of." I can not attribute my survival to sole divine intervention, because God works in mysterious ways. I can not attribute my survival to mere luck. In February 1945, I decided to touch the electrified fence to be electrocuted. However, to abide by the tenets of my religious upbringing, that man should never commit suicide, I retreated at the last moment.

A clairvoyant (a palm reader) told the author's mother that her son would be lucky. Thomas was indeed lucky to survive Nazi killing centers, at the age of eleven, Very few, at the author's age could have survived Auschwitz or Sachsenhausen. He was unusually fortunate to be reunited, in December 1946 with his mother that also had survived the Holocaust. I wish I could be so lucky; I am the only survivor of my immediate family.

Throughout his ordeal, the author manifests his deep love for his parents. For a Holocaust survivor who had been incarcerated during his early school years to become an international law professor and a judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague is indicative of the author's intelligence and erudition. A little Jewish boy, classified by the Nazis, to be inferior, proved himself to be superior. A victim of human rights violations became an ardent human rights advocate. Having all the reasons to be bitter, Thomas had chosen to be forgiving, compassionate and gracious.

A Lucky Child is a riveting narrative. The reader might be saddened reading about the author's tribulations during the Holocaust and its aftermath. The reader will be inspired by the author's tenacity and resilience exercised during the author's journey ensuing the Holocaust. I am not a jealous person, but I can not help myself not be envious of the author's accomplishments. Thomas Buergenthal is a shining example of human dignity. His book is not just a poignant memoir; it is a source of enlightenment for all ages.

Alter Wiener; author "From A Name to A Number"

‘A Lucky Child’ tells the story of Thomas Buergenthal, born to a German-Jewish mother and a Polish-Jewish father in 1933 and from the age of 6 years, grew up in the Jewish ghetto of Kielce (Poland) and later in the concentration camps at Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen. After the War he lived with his mother in Göttingen, Germany before moving to America in 1951. He eventually became a specialist in international law and human rights law and served as a judge on the International Court of Justice at The Hague from March 2000 to his resignation in September 2010. Obviously no child can be brought up surrounded by such horror and death and not be affected by it. However, what strikes me about Buergenthal’s account is his lack of bitterness and hatred, despite the authors understanding of the darker side of the human condition. He then spent the rest of his working life attempting to put into effect international human rights laws and policies to save other innocent victims from experiencing what he had experienced, believing that he had a moral obligation to devote his professional life to the protection of human rights. The account of his life under the Nazis is mainly taken from memory 50 years after the Holocaust and recounts his direct experiences. Despite the subject matter, I found this book strangely uplifting. Thomas Buergenthal survived a living hell and became a better human-being because of his experiences. I don’t think I could be so forgiving, but one thing I do know, without people like this author, the world would be a much worse place.

Some books are remarkable and moving; this is one of them. Buergenthal recalls his boyhood under Hitler; from Jewish ghetto to work camp to Auschwitz. His story is one that never should have been written since odds were against him being a young Jewish boy. How did a young boy of eight years survive a work camp, how did that same boy at 10 years old live through Auschwitz.... even after reading Buergenthal's memoir it's unfathomable but truth is stranger than fiction.

The memoir continues through liberation by Soviet soldiers, time spent as 'mascot' to the Polish Army, a Jewish orphanage, reuniting with his mother at 12 1/2 years old and finally emigrating to America.

Buergenthals' book is more than just a memoir; it's also a book about learning to let go of hatred. He writes "we were forced to confront these emotions in a way that helped Mutti and me gradually overcome our hatred and desire for revenge. ... I doubt that we would have been able to preserve our sanity had we remained consumed by hatred for the rest of our lives.... while it was important not to forget what happened to us in the Holocaust, it was equally important not to hold the descendants of the perpetrators responsible for what was done to us, lest the cycle of hate and violence never end."

Thomas Buergenthal survived the Holocaust and has devoted his life to international and human rights law. He is currently the American judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

I often close Holocaust memoirs with a heavy heart, feeling the heartbreak and sadness of the author lingering within me long after the book is finished. Along with the sadness I feel gratified to have learned about their life and their family, to keep their memories alive... and inspired to appreciate my own life and to make it count. "A Lucky Child" left me feeling very much inspired, but also uniquely uplifted.

Thomas Buergenthal survived a difficult life in the Ghetto, deportation to a labor camp, and Auschwitz-Birkenau, having miraculously avoided the infamous selection. He survived a death march, days on end in an open cattle car, the terrifying infirmary and even stray Allied bombs in Sachenhausen. He made his way back to Poland after the war by hitching a ride with Polish soldiers, and learned to shoot...and to ride a bike. He was 11 years old.

Told in a straightforward manner that is slightly detached from the events that took place so long ago and at such a young age, I appreciate that Thomas Buergenthal didn't try to embellish the story by writing it with the voice of a child and openly admitted when some memories he wanted to share had faded. It was frank, honest and real.

Early on, Thomas's mother Gerda visited a fortune teller who predicted that Thomas would, as a lucky child, survive the war. Gerda clung to her faith in the prediction and never gave up hope of finding her son, even after years had passed with no word of him. It's uncanny that only with luck could he have survived against such overwhelming odds. Even if the fortune teller's prediction was a lucky guess, it was all part of the miracle that kept Thomas and his mother alive.

I was touched and moved to read about Odd Nansen, a Norwegian architect who befriended the young Buergenthal in Sachenhausen and featured Thomas in his published diary shortly after the war. By sheer luck, Thomas read about Odd Nansen and decided to write to him and inquire if he was the same man he remembered from the camp. This led to an emotional reuniting and Thomas became a celebrity in Norway.

Most inspiring of all was to discover that Thomas Buergenthal, after having lived a lifetime by the age of 11, realized his full potential and became an accomplished lawyer and human rights judge. I feel honored to have learned about this remarkable individual and I would recommend this book to everyone. While full of difficult events, the veil of time and long-ago childhood, and a happy reunification with his mother and Mr. Nansen, softens a usually emotionally difficult subject that some readers may normally shy away from.

The opening words, read by the author, are so ripe with the emotion of his experiences that the reader is immediately drawn into the memoir. His accent and diction are beautiful and I almost hated to have the book turned over to the professional reader, but he was equally good. At the end of the book, the author returns, briefly, to inform the reader why he believes he was lucky enough to survive and why he chose to dedicate his life to the international human rights struggle, in spite of his past.
When just under the age of 5, in 1939, Tom, (born in 1935), and his family, are uprooted from the hotel they owned and occupied, and are forced to leave. They were Jews, and the Germans required their premises for a "new" owner they had chosen. Confiscated abruptly, they find that the property is no longer theirs, and since all of their spare cash had gone into the upkeep, maintenance and improvement of the hotel, they are now without much money to spare. Over the next five years they were shunted from pillar to post, moving from Germany to Poland in an effort to stay safe and to stay one step ahead of the Nazis, surviving by their wits alone, until finally, their luck runs out, and they were shipped to Auschwitz, in 1944, when Tom was not yet 10 years old!
The book is brief and is presented through the eyes of the child, with all the memories, some possibly distorted, but always detailed as truthfully as memory will allow some sixty decades later; perhaps not all memories occur in order, but they are always indicators of the suffering and cruelty foisted upon so many innocent people during the Holocaust. They always illustrated the courage and cleverness, the luck and serendipity that often decided the fate of someone, often decided whether or not they lived or died.
The author speaks of the dignity of those who were murdered, who in their final moments refused to show the fear the Germans wanted to see, so they could gloat in their victory, in their mental illness, for no one else would have been able to stand by and watch such vicious behavior with a joyful demeanor, relishing in the humiliation, torture and pain of the conquered.
Written in a clinical way, as a child would view it, and read in such a matter of fact tone, the horror of the holocaust recedes, and yet, becomes even more dreadful, at times, since it seems to be occurring almost as a matter of course. In the end, the reader will realize that survival meant not only having your wits about you, but it also depended on luck and a kind gesture, often offered by someone willing to risk their own life. It is a wonder that Tom was not murdered in a selection as most children were.
When the war ended, Tom wound up wandering along on the road and with his fluency in Polish, is invited to join a Polish regiment. At 10 years old, he becomes their mascot, and he is outfitted in a uniform made especially for him. Eventually, however, he is sent to a Jewish orphanage where, even after the war, the Polish children in a nearby orphanage call the Jewish children names and throw rocks at them. The anti-Semitism and cruelty that still existed at the end of the war, in both children and adults alike, will touch your heart and horrify your mind, because, as we all know, many pretended to know nothing about what was taking place, even though they witnessed the roundups, the transports, the death marches, and the smell of burning flesh.
Finally, though, through a lucky circuitous route, his mother, who has survived and never given up hope of finding him, succeeds in locating him. It is not until 1946 that they are reunited however, after 2 ½ years of a brutal and horrifying separation. When he is reunited with his mother, she greets him with a new husband, who, as a stepfather, takes a sincere interest in him.
After several years in Germany, getting an education which brings him up to his age level, learning his way around, he decides to travel to America to meet his mother’s family. With the death of her second husband, his mother has since married a third time and does not want to leave Europe. She remains behind. As the years pass, through many unusual and happy accidents of fate, he is able to reunite with some of the people who helped him during the war. Sadly, he is never reunited with his father, for he and Tom’s grandparents, did no survive, nor did other family members.
At first, he is bitter, but eventually he turns the other cheek and realizes helping others will help him, teaching by the example will serve a better purpose. When the book ends, it will be hard for the reader to imagine the life of this child, barely five, when forced to leave his home and then at not quite 10, forced to enter the concentration camps; torn from his family, most of whom he never sees again, he survives, and turns his life around, becoming successful and devoting himself to helping others, even though he was so abandoned and tormented, in his own life, as a child.
No matter how many books you may have read about the Holocaust, read this one too. Told from the perspective of a little boy, from the time when the war’s effects first touched him, until many decades later, it is eye opening and enlightening in ways you will not have been touched before. He is surprised to discover that in America, many Nazis found refuge, because the country was preoccupied with Communists and not that concerned about the Nazis. There were lapses in immigration and security policies, at that time. The author explains that he did not find it hard to speak about his experiences, while his mother was reduced to tears when she tried to write about them. I thought, perhaps his youth prevented him from truly knowing the full measure of loss that older people experienced, both in their dignity and loss of loved ones. His attachments would, by virtue of his age, have been more superficial and theirs far deeper and more painful when discussing the torture, murder and absence of those well loved, those robbed of a future for simply not being of the “master race”, a group of people fortunately defeated and prevented from accomplishing their macabre view of the universe!

Nothing Dr. Buergenthal could write can make me understand the unbelievable horror he lived through. Clearly, he belongs to that band of children given to be resilient in the face of overwhelming odds.

I was fortunate to hear the professor speak at the installation of Ralph Steinhardt as the new holder of the Loebinger Chair (and recipient of an actual GWLS chair, which Buergenthal humorously pointed out had never been given to him....). His love of living was so apparent in his remarks, I felt compelled to read his memoir.

Apparently Thomas Buergenthal had some difficulty getting his book published in the United States. American publishers apparently felt that there was already an overabundance of Holocaust testimonial books and that there wasn't a market for one more. Fortunately, Buergenthal got his book published in other countries and response there proved that there is indeed demand for more personal accounts of the Holocaust. Every personal story of the Holocaust is important because every experience and every voice is unique. As Joseph Stalin said, "One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic." Every individual story puts a face on the horror of the Holocaust and helps to keep the Holocaust a personal tragedy, not an impersonal statistic.

Buergenthal wrote the story of his Holocaust story much later in life than most survivors, which gives his book even greater importance for the perspective it offers after a very successful lifetime of work on humanitarian and international justice issues. Buergenthal is able to reflect back on how his Holocaust experience impacted his life in many aspects.

The time gap, as well as an apparent emotion reserve or barrier, also serves to make the book much more detached and dispassionate than many Holocaust narratives. Buergenthal starts the book telling us that he is going to narrate the book as he experienced events as a boy, not as an old man looking back. However, he fails at that goal. Buergenthal's phrasing and narration are unmistakably that of an old man looking back on his experience. This is not necessarily a criticism, just an observation. I'm not sure that it could be any other way, especially as Buergenthal is not a professional creative writer accustomed to writing from perspectives other than his own current perspective. In fact, as a lawyer, he is probably quite accustomed to writing from a highly analytical perspective.

It's apparent that Buergenthal has spent a great deal of time thinking about his experiences intellectually, but hasn't really connected to them emotionally. Even some of the more horrific parts of his experience are narrated in the same tone of voice you'd expect your grandfather to use when telling you how, as a boy, he had to walk five miles to school. In the snow. Uphill both ways. Much of his post-liberation experience, which, although happy and exciting in many ways, would still be a confusing and frightening time for a young child, is narrated in an almost giddy tone of voice. Everything "was all very exciting" we are told repeatedly.

This emotional disconnect is, in all likelihood, part of what enabled young Tommy to be so resilient and to build such a successful and important life for himself. Buergenthal consistently refuses to allow himself to get bogged down by the terror and evil of his experience. There was never a time when he was emotionally or spiritually crushed or broken. He always found a way to survive and make the best of things.

The title of the story comes from an encounter his mother had with a fortune teller in which the fortune teller told her that her son was "a lucky child" who would survive the coming hardships unscathed. I'm not so sure luck was the most important factor. Sure, there were several instances when luck worked in his favor, but there's also the fact that young Tommy was an extraordinarily plucky young child. From telling a Nazi officer that he could work, to seeking jobs in the ghetto and the camps to make himself useful and keep informed, to having the foresight to pay attention to the survival lessons his father taught him, young Tommy shows a precocious intelligence and aptitude for survival despite his almost total lack of formal schooling.

The book is liberally sprinkled with pictures, where available, of young Tommy and his family which helps to get a better sense of the times and the characters. The picture that struck me the most is the one of him with the Jewish Polish soldier who took him to the orphanage. Despite being around eleven years old at the time, Tommy practically looks like a baby only recently out of diapers. The fact that such a young, vulnerable child survived the horrors of the Holocaust - relatively unscathed as predicted - is a testament to more than just luck. That baby face belied an inner strength that allowed Buergenthal not only to survive, but to make a difference in the world.

This is the most thought provoking book I have read in the past year or so. While other reviewers have found the tone of the book to be unsentimental or flat, in my life experiences the most devastating news I have received has been delivered in rather calm flat tones, or in carefully drafted writings. I have never before read a memoir of the Holocaust that so effectively conveyed what a family faced with Nazi persecution was thinking and what a child was experiencing listening to them. It reminded me of listening to my parents as they talked about problems in hushed tones while they thought I was sleeping.

The discussion of the developments in international law that are moving toward a reduction in genocide through geopolitical pressure put a dent in my long held opinion that war crimes trials are simply victors' justice in which losers are subjected to the vengeance of winners. The author gives specific instances in which there have been positive developments. Given current developments in Syria I am not convinced that much has changed, however.

Most striking for me is the author's ability to accept that hatred gets us no where and that, as many of us have learned over long experience, that hatred affects the hated less than the haters. The author "moved on" which many in life in many situations are never able to do. To me this is another example of the lesson of the book "The Shack" which was popular some time ago.

While some have thought parts of the book dry, I found that what might be considered dry were far from it if given serious consideration. I don't necessarily agree with all of the suggestions of the author, but he makes good arguments for them that demand consideration.

Thomas Buergenthal's "A Lucky Child" is one of the best of hundreds of personal memoirs that have come out of the Holocaust.

Why? First of all, Thomas was all of ten years old when he was "transported" with his parents in 1944 from the Jewish ghetto in Kalice, Poland to the Auschwitz/Birkenau concentration camp complex. He was "lucky" in being selected for Auschwitz because selection for Birkenau meant swift and certain death. Being selected for Auschwitz meant the possibility of work--and survival. Thomas, an unusually resourceful ten-year old found ways to make himself useful.

Thomas' mother was separated from him at Auschwitz early on. He saw her only once by accident during that time. Thomas remained with his father until the two were forcibly separated and never saw him again. Both parents were keen observers who passed on survival skills that young Thomas made his own. In addition to the soothsayer's prognostication that Thomas was born a "Gluckskind," or lucky child, Thomas "made his own luck" as the saying goes.

Thomas had a knack for making close friends and allies wherever he went. He was enterprising, finding ways to quickly adapt to changed circumstances. He resolved to accomplish useful tasks. As a fluent speaker of German and Polish, his language skills came in handy.

For a brief time after liberation, Thomas was made a Polish "soldier" and given a uniform. Best of all, he was able to reunite with his mother.

After the War, the lessons he learned as a concentration camp survivor and his resolve to promote essential human rights for all peoples became his passion and his profession.

Because his was busy living his life it took Thomas Buergenthal more than fifty years to get around to writing this book. As one of the youngest concentration camp survivors, this might well be the last Holocaust memoir that gets written as a first-person experience.

The author readily admits that he was a lucky boy to have survived "another selection" repeatedly or other encounters with imminent death. Holocaust books cannot escape the apparent randomness of who died and who lived for another day. Yet of course there was also more than randomness. Adults made shrewd and brave decisions that helped Thomas, and the boy himself obviously had a strong instinct and will to survive, along with exceptional physical and mental toughness.

His writing is very calm and matter-of-fact, of the this happened, then that happened variety, as in, "When we were just a few meters away from the doctors, one of them motioned my father to the left and me to the right. My father tried to pull me with him, but an SS guard grabbed me while another kicked my father out of the barrack. That was the last time I saw my father." The core of the tale through liberation from camp is only about 100 pages in an average font and can be read quickly, yet those 100 pages are highly dramatic and powerful.

In a book filled with grim events, the author brightens the story with enough tales of human kindness, courage and compassion to provide an uplifting tone that somewhat balances the horrible.

What a moving story. Thomas Buergenthal relieves a past and shares it with us....from being a boy under Hitler, working at Auschwitz, the liberation of Soviet Soldiers, imigrating and so much more.

At eight years old he was tossed into this life. He survived for several years and was reunited with his mother when he was twelve.

I have to say, after reading this book, I truly admire the author. It's such a terrible thing to go through, but in his memoir he shows and teaches forgiveness for a time that was all but kind to him.

After this childhood ordeal, he's committed his adult life to international and human rights laws. This is a sad yet inspiring read that I highly recommend.

It made me think back to a wonderful woman named Tobie that I worked with just out of high school. She had a concentration camp stamp on her arm. Another person stronger than most any of us will ever be. I do hope she's well or resting in peace somewhere.

This book is a must read for everyone.

[...]

The Lucky Child is a poignant memoir, allowing the reader to envision and feel all of the emotions and terror that Thomas (as a young boy) must have felt, while at the same time, maintaining a more detached approach (less gruesome) then many of the Holocaust books I have previously read. I was instantly drawn into this story and pulled into the absorbing narrative; this story is absolutely riveting! This smoothly flowing story has perfect momentum and keeps the reader's interest from beginning to end. Thomas' invaluable story really brought the Holocaust `home', to me. As the reader visualizes what life was like for this young boy (and many others like him) during those horrendous times, it makes his experiences even more vivid and heartbreaking. I don't want to give away any part of this book because it is Thomas' unforgettable story to tell; only he can properly share with you the misery, wretchedness and the desolation that he felt while he was imprisoned. Included in this book are 16 beautiful, black & white photographs and a black & white map (2 full pages).You simply MUST read this book!
I very highly recommend this book to everyone!!!

(10 out of 10 Diamonds) - Absolutely LOVED it!!

© 2008-2009 Bobbie Crawford-McCoy (Book Reviews By Bobbie).
All rights reserved.

Thomas Buergenthal was not quite six yrs old when he and his parents were forced into a Jewish ghetto in Poland. For the next four years they struggled there and in two labor camps, until they were placed on a train bound for Auschwitz. Separated first from his mother and then from his father, 10 yr old Thomas managed by his wits and what he considers to be some remarkable strokes of "luck" to survive Auschwitz and the infamous death march. Eventually liberated from Sachsenhausen, he witnessed the fall of Berlin and spent a short time in an orphanage. He was miraculously reunited with his mother almost 3 yrs after last seeing her at Auschwitz and sadly discovered his father had died.

He has devoted his life to international and human rights law. He believes that, having survived, he has an obligation to try to do all he can to spare others, wherever they might be, from suffering a fate similar to that of the victims of the Holocaust.

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"One of the [German] tanks stopped near our group [which included the author at 5 years old and his parents]...And a young soldier, his body protruding from the open turret, his face covered in soot, yelled over to us in German, wanting to know who we were. After some hesitation, somebody answered that we were Jews, and another added, `German Jews.' `Nothing to worry about,' he yelled back. `The war will be over soon, and we'll all be able to go home again.' He waved at us and the tank moved forward. These very reassuring words brought us temporary relief...As fate would have it, they turned out to be the kindest words any German would address to us for a long time to come..."

The above comes from the beginning of this enthralling book by Thomas Buergenthal, currently an American judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. (The above event in quotations took place just after Sept. 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland thus starting World War II {WWII}.)

This is Buergenthal's memoir of surviving WWII and Auschwitz as a child and young boy. We catch a glimpse of his parents and his serene life in Czechoslovakia before the war. Unfortunately, Hitler came to power in 1933 and his parents were Jewish.

These two facts turned the Buergenthals' life upside down. Thomas (almost six years old) and his parents were forced into a Jewish ghetto in Poland and two labour camps where they endured for four years. Then the family of three went to what some call the final destination for many: Auschwitz.

Ten-year-old Thomas, here separated from his parents, begins his lone odyssey at this point. By brainpower and with the help of lady luck, he survived the horrors of Auschwitz and the infamous "death march." Eventually liberated, he becomes the unlikely mascot for a Polish Army regiment, witnessed the fall of Berlin, and even spent a year in an orphanage.

Against a background of struggle and terror, we get to see the small wonders of childhood as when Thomas teaches himself to ride a bicycle belonging to an officer of the SS or his excitement when a pony is given to him by his Polish comrades.

Lady luck smiled on him again when he was reunited with his mother after not seeing her for more than 2 years.

In 1951 (aged 17), he emigrated to the United Stated to start a new fulfilling and distinguished life.

This is a story that's simply and beautifully told. Buergenthal writes in an unsentimental tone but despite this, this true story is heartbreaking and thrilling demonstrating that beauty and good are present even in the face of ugliness and evil.

It must have taken incredible courage for Buergenthal to dredge up some of the memories found in this book. His effort was worth it! The resulting book is "an extraordinary historical document and a humane statement of great moral depth."

Finally, to accentuate the main narrative there are over twenty black and white photographs peppered throughout. My favourite has the following caption:

"Thomas Buergenthal in a tailor-made Polish Army uniform, with the soldier who took him to the orphanage, 1945."

There is also a detailed map so we can follow Thomas' journeys. (Notice the location of Czechoslovakia with respect to Germany and Poland.)

In conclusion, I thank Thomas Buergenthal for giving the world and me a powerful book that allows the reader to witness the resilience of the human spirit!!

(first published in America 2009; forward; preface; 11 chapters; epilogue; main narrative 225 pages; acknowledgements; about the author)

<<Stephen Pletko, London, Ontario, Canada>>

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This Holocaust memoir is different from many in that the author was only about seven years old when his family started to be really oppressed by the Nazi juggernaut. They were removed first to a ghetto in Poland, then to Auschwitz. Then little Timmy Buergenthal went on without his parents to Sachsenhausen - and to final miraculous release. Strictly speaking, this isn't a child's contemporaneous account, such as Anne Frank's diary provided. Buerenthal wrote this book only fairly recently. He explains in his introduction that he did considerable research to piece together his recollections of his childhood into proper chronology and put them in context.

If the average adult Jewish citizen had little hope of surviving the myriad ordeals, children were even less likely to survive. Deemed unfit for any labor, young children were often immediately diverted to the lines sent to the gas chambers.

This is where the title of the book proves apt. When the Buergenthal family was still relatively happy and free, Timmy's mother went to a gypsy fortuneteller. She didn't really believe in the gypsy's powers, and yet, the soothsayer's predictions sustained her through the coming years. The gypsy woman saw that her client had a son, and she predicted that this son would always be uniquely "lucky." That turned out to be true.

Many times, it was only sheer luck that kept Timmy out of the gas chambers. Although Buergenthal also writes how he quickly became "street smart" in the way that some modern South American youths learn how to survive the extreme gang violence of their native city streets. For example, Buergenthal quickly learned to sense when another selection was about to be made and he learned how to fade out of sight on these occasions. His fluency in both Polish and German also stood him in good stead in the camps.

His narrative carries on in some detail through the early post-War years when he was resettled in Germany and went to school for the first time. He talks about his ambivalent feelings - going to class with people who were now kind to him, but who might just recently have participated as executioners of his people.

Be sure to read through to the end of the book to the Epilogue. Here Buergenthal tells how his decision to become a jurist involved in various international human rights commissions was no doubt influenced by his early experience as the victim of such terrible human rights violations. He puts his experiences in perspective here and answers many of the questions commonly put to concentration camp survivors - such as the question of whether or not he feels guilty about having survived when so many didn't. You'll find some exceptionally wise answers to these questions. You'll probably marvel at how such a sane understanding could have grown out of such a time of madness.

I read this book almost in one sitting. After starting, I just couldn't put it down. It was 1 am when I finished and I spent the rest of the night and next day thinking about it. The life Thomas lead was not a normal one. His early life was spent mostly running from the advancing Nazi ideals, then life in ghettos, work camps, concentration camps, and the long, tortuous moves between them. How he survived is amazing - some luck, some smarts.
Yet, throughout all this horror, it didn't harden him. He didn't let it influence his behavior towards the Germans, he didn't give up. Instead, he fights for human rights all over the world.
Amazing book.

A Lucky Child is a little different from other books on Holocaust because it is a memoir of a person, who as a child survived not only Auschwitz, but the ghetto that, like all Jewish ghettos, was liquidated, and two other labor camps. The miracle in it all is, only a handful of children came out of Auschwitz alive. Most of them had been murdered and burnt before they even got a chance to enter the camp, or were sent to Treblinka straight form ghettos where the same fate awaited. The author of this memoir is Thomas Buergenthal, an International Court of Justice judge, who devoted his life to making sure that what had happened in WWII, doesn't happen again. Mr. Buergenthal arrived at Auschwitz when he was ten and was abruptly and cruelly separated from his mother but thankfully was still together with his father. He went through the life in the camp and through the rest of the war trying his best to live, to survive and to finally get reconnected with his parents. He was a truly lucky child because while all the other children he managed to become friends with were killed, he always escaped that same, gruesome fate. Mr. Buergenthal, Tommy, was also miraculously reunited with his mother just when he started losing the hope that either of his parents survived Auschwitz.

Thomas Buergenthal essentially wrote a book of hope, resilience and a child's spirit that could never get extinguished. I absolutely loved it. It's a work of a great mind and heart and because it was written straight from the heart it takes on a deeply moving meaning. The prose is beautifully simple and almost dainty, which spoke to me clearer than any convoluted, rich in hyperboles and metaphors pieces ever could. And in this simplicity, the true questions shine through. Who does truly survive: the one who refuses to compromise their morality, dignity and soul, or the one who gives that up to preserve or prolong their life no matter what? How insane did the people who served up such a fate to the millions of innocents had to be? These and many other deep issues are what Buergenthal thinks about and also gives a reader the freedom to answer them individually. One aspect of the book that I particularly loved were the photographs of Thomas and his family. I thought it was wonderful to look at all these people, his mother, his father and many others, and be able to put a face to them, to their great spirit and personalities. And just like my experience in Auschwitz, these photographs make it more real, make you look at them and know that this is all true, that it isn't a dry historical fact only but many personal tragedies that can never be forgotten.

Here is another gem of a Holocaust survival book. In this case, a Czechoslovakian born boy with a German Jewish bourgeois mother and a Polish Jewish lawyer/hotel owner father manages to survive two ghettoes and a slave labor job at auschwitz and the death march at the end of the war to Sachsenhausen near Berlin. All this happens while he is age five to eleven. Separated from his parents at Auschwitz yet not killed as most children were, he had both luck and pluck and intelligence on his side.

The title in German is not a direct translation. It means more a child who brings happiness to his family since the word luck comes from Gluck. That word has the meaning of both good luck and happiness, as when the parents finally have a child late in life or if several siblings have died. But never mind! A gypsy was paid to say it and Thomas' mother believed it!

Incidentally the mother herself survived in another workcamp. She is a Glucksfrau? I loved reading about Thomas' sheer luck and determination and cleverness. He could also be called a Klugskind. But he downplayed his mother's life and suffering as if, although he loved her, she didn't count.

gerda Silbergleit grew up in the beautiful town of Goettingen, a famous university town. She is surrounded by intellectuals and academics but apparently her only higher education is a finishing school. At 21 she is idle and unhappy about a broken relationship with a Gentile boy. Her parents who owned a shoe store and lived in the apartments above it, arrange that she go to the Slovak town of Lubochna because they want her to meet the new Jewish owner, a Burgenthal, to whom she gets engaged in three days. Then she is married in weeks, although he is a lawyer and very well read and no doubt bored and annoyed with his somewhat ditzy new wife as his later comments through out the book do reveal. She cannot cook, a major handicap when all the gentile servants are gone and they live in one room in the Jewish ghetto. She cannot write properly. She has no job skills. When she has a chance to go to America where her brother lives at the end of the war, she is afraid she will have to work so she chooses to marry a third man instead. Yet and yet and yet! She survives the camps!!

Does her devoted son mention how and why and where she went? Does he presume the reader might care about two lucky miracles? Well. No.

I noticed that when Elie Wiesel tells his story, he only mentions very much in passing that he had TWO Siblings who also survived and now live in France!!!! What a miracle that all three made it! But they are women. Mere sisters. Who cares what great and lucky and smart things they did to make it through the same mess as Elie did???

Single women who weren't in school or employed could be forced into work programs such as nursing in old folks houses and mother's helper jobs. Perhaps this is what motivated her parents to get her married off asap and use a big dowry to make the lawyer Burgenthal agree to it so he could buy the hotel. Neither husband nor wife had any experience in running such things or even doing housekeeping or cooking. Never mind! In the end the Czech government took it from them.

I noticed also that in the final pages our now very old author attributes a great deal of the writing and editing to his wife Peggy and that it is properly a joint effort and she should receive the credit. Is her name on the cover!? No. Weird behavior from a man trumping up human rights professionally and in many different countries!!

When his mother saw him off to America, she told him, "remember, Tommy. It is better to have many girlfriends than just one. That will ensure you don't get married too young. ". Did she regret her quick marriage and lack of boyfriends, stuck at age 21 to a stranger in a strange country? She still missed the gentile boy she had to abandon?

On pages 167 to 169 he discusses his Gymnasium studies in 1948 back in Goettingen reunited with his mother. He is struck by the fact that none of his German classmates, all boys, ever asked him about his time in the camps, although they knew he had been in Auschwitz. He was the only Jew in the school and was accepted by the others in studies and sports. He doesn't know why they didn't ssk, but I can imagine that they wants to ask but their parents had told them not to do so. Such terrible stories they had already probably heard and didn't want their sons getting a guilt complex or to maybe relish the sadism there. If I myself meet children and now grandchildren of camp survivors in the USA, I hesitate also to ask even which camp. It is a very touchy subject. To know a lot about it is not really socially acceptable for nonJews.

He did have one teacher who was an Alter Nazi or old Nazi, implying committed. Most who had to join the party to keep their teaching jobs were considered Mitlaufer or fellow travelers. Technically seven percent of Germans were Nazis. But that was enough to destroy a lot of Europe including Germany and its people!

Near the end he discusses why he felt he had to go and why he didn't feel comfortable in Germany. Why then did his mother feel fine there? He later inserts that she received a pension from the German government and didn't have to work. Again she is work shy. If she leaves for America or Israel she would not receive it or it would not ha e been enough to live on. She doesn't care for the germans but hey why not stay anyway? He got some of this money but was getting too old to be a dependent once he graduated. He would have had to pay for attending a German university. That would mean working. Oh dear! The uncle and aunt in America could afford to have him.

On page 97 we find that he is still sixty years later puzzled over why the SS put the Auschwitz slave laborers on a death march. 67,000 from the three camps there were set up in long columns to march to Gleiwitz and there be dumped into open coal carrying train compartments to Sachaenhausen. This was in the horrible cold of Januaru 1945. Many died and were shot en route if they could not keep up. About 1200 very sick were left behind for the Red Army to liberate.

I cannot believe that such a smart lawyer and judge as our writer couldn't research this. The Russians had just liberated Maydenak near Lublin. They were very near Oswiciem, the Polish city now called Auschwitz. These workers were critical to the war industry. Both workers and machinery of IG Farben were moved in any way possible. The war was still on. The Nazis still hoped to win and needed these slaves. They even hoped their secret weapon would appear.

Another thought must have crossed his mind. If the Germans abandoned the 70,000 or so prisoners and fled the Red Army to avoid getting killed themselves, it would have have been to admit defeat. Also these camp inmates could have fled in all directions and caused terrible mayhem with justified anger against Poles and Germans alike. revenge would be theirs IF the Russians didn't lock them all up again anyway.

All in all this is a very good read and a bestseller in Grrmany. I only put in these few observations to play devil's advocate. He glosses over things that a German would notice immediately.

The author was born May 11, 1934 in CzechoslovakiaIn August 1944 he and his parents were taken to auschwitz and this book is an account of his time before and during that period in the concentration camp, where he was separated from his parents and managed, just barely, to survive and finally, on Dec 29, 1946, was reunited with his mother. The story is told matter-of-fact-ly and one has to agree that he was lucky to live and in 1951 he came to the USA where he went to law school, married, and has done important work for human rights. I found the account engrossing and full of interest.

This book is a different account from other survivors stories. This was written by Mr. Buergenthal as an adult. He looks back at a time he tried to forget. The story as all Holocaust memoirs is sad, but yet at the same time uplifting. It shows that no matter what we all have that desire to live and stay alive. The one thing that this story did that I appreciate is to go on with Mr. Buergenthal life after Auschwitz. It was interesting to read about Germany and what it was like after the war. It is amazing that this young man survived but I am so glad that he did and that he did.

“A Lucky Child” is a memoir about Thomas Buergenthal’s epic childhood journey where he defied all odds. Through think and thin Thomas was constantly able to out smart the Nazi solders, by escaping lineups, lying about his age, and stealing food from the kitchens. Using what his father taught him, and even a little luck, he was able to survive the Jewish Ghettos, Aushwitz , and the infamous Death Walk. After his family was split up, he was able to stay strong, meet some new people, and survive the Holocaust. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel From the beginning to the end. What I found most compelling about “A lucky Child” was Thomas’ constant determination to “beat the Nazi’s” and be reunited with his mother and father. Even when the war was over, and he was an orphan, he still pursued his dream of finding his parents. Even though he was told that they were dead, he still pushed through because he knew they were alive. I recommend this book to be a book that all high School students read. It teaches how no matter what, and no matter how bad things may seem, if you try hard enough you can make things better.

A different depiction of the Holocaust from a survivor who maintained a positive attitude throughout his distinguished career. The story does nothing to diminish the brutality of events, but the author came to witness and accept death at an early age. The writing style is not polished, but the story flows very well. Having just seen Phoenix (2015), Lucky Child is a much more encouraging tale.

This is a book that should be mandatory reading in high school. As we travel further and further from the world as it was in the 1930's and 1940's, the tendency is for mankind to forget the slow manner in which tyranny takes over a country and destroys people. Perhaps if this book were to be read by high school students, they would not grow up to vote for the likes of an Obama or a Bush, both of whom are liars and tyrants.

Buergenthal's story is even more amazing in that he is able to make a willing choice to forgive those who did these horrors to his friends and family and move on with his life, becoming a very successful lawyer and judge. I would hope that I also could forgive in such a manner, but I wonder.

This is a well written book. It moves smoothly through Buergenthal's life, the descriptions of his family, his neighborhood, and the things that the Jewish people had to endure. It is an easy three night read that will leave you wondering how these things happened to normal people.

This is an amazing book and should be required reading for middle school students. It is mind boggling what this very young child had to endure and survived. Much of the time without the benefit of even knowing the whereabouts or wellbeing of his parents. As a young man and adult he chose NOT to live his life as a victim. Inspiring story of overcoming obstacles that are unthinkable.

When reading A LUCKY CHILD, I thought about the film LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, both seen through the eyes of a young boy. This memoir about Thomas Buergenthal's life in concentration camps during the Holocaust is truly unforgettable. How this young child survives through the horrors of such an ordeal is beyond me? He truly was a lucky child and to write it down for generations to read, we have become the lucky ones. This book details the losses he experienced, the travels through various `work' camps, the liberation by the Russian army and the search for his parents afterward. His story is a remarkable one and to learn that he has devoted his adult life to international and human rights law shows what an amazing person he has become. This is a must read.

I first read about Thomas Buergenthal in the George Washington University Magazine. I was fascinated by his achievements and purchased his book knowing that it had many lessons to teach. I found myself transported to the horrific, frightening world of the Nazis. His story is compelling not only because he was able to survive the brutality of Auschwitz but because he was able to forgive. His conciliatory voice brings closure to his past and allows him to move forward. The Nazi's may have attempted to take away his humanity but they failed desperately. A Lucky Child is a must read for all. It will rip at your heart, you will question the existences of God, but in the end you will smile at the Power of Forgiveness. Filomena Abys-Smith author A Bit of Myself

This book was enthralling all the way through. The author was able to show the fear and horror of his time in the ghettos and camps with just enough detail. I've read a few books about the Holocaust, and this one stands out for me. I found it to be a bit more accessible than some. I even gave it to my 12-year-old nephew to read, and he gobbled it up and said it was better than what he had read in school about the subject. One of the nice things about it is how this boy grew up and spent his career helping other victims of human rights abuses. It's a quick read that leaves you dwelling on the positives instead of the horrors.

I read any memoir about the Holocaust that I find. This is truly a great book. Hard to call a book that is written about suffering in the worst way, great, but it is. I believe with my whole heart that these are the kinds of books that every person on this planet needs to read. Why? So we don't ever repeat this kind of History.

“A Lucky Child” is a memoir about Thomas Buergenthal’s epic childhood journey where he defied all odds. Through think and thin Thomas was constantly able to out smart the Nazi solders, by escaping lineups, lying about his age, and stealing food from the kitchens. Using what his father taught him, and even a little luck, he was able to survive the Jewish Ghettos, Aushwitz , and the infamous Death Walk. After his family was split up, he was able to stay strong, meet some new people, and survive the Holocaust. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel From the beginning to the end. What I found most compelling about “A lucky Child” was Thomas’ constant determination to “beat the Nazi’s” and be reunited with his mother and father. Even when the war was over, and he was an orphan, he still pursued his dream of finding his parents. Even though he was told that they were dead, he still pushed through because he knew they were alive. I recommend this book to be a book that all high School students read. It teaches how no matter what, and no matter how bad things may seem, if you try hard enough you can make things better.

A different depiction of the Holocaust from a survivor who maintained a positive attitude throughout his distinguished career. The story does nothing to diminish the brutality of events, but the author came to witness and accept death at an early age. The writing style is not polished, but the story flows very well. Having just seen Phoenix (2015), Lucky Child is a much more encouraging tale.

This is a book that should be mandatory reading in high school. As we travel further and further from the world as it was in the 1930's and 1940's, the tendency is for mankind to forget the slow manner in which tyranny takes over a country and destroys people. Perhaps if this book were to be read by high school students, they would not grow up to vote for the likes of an Obama or a Bush, both of whom are liars and tyrants.

Buergenthal's story is even more amazing in that he is able to make a willing choice to forgive those who did these horrors to his friends and family and move on with his life, becoming a very successful lawyer and judge. I would hope that I also could forgive in such a manner, but I wonder.

This is a well written book. It moves smoothly through Buergenthal's life, the descriptions of his family, his neighborhood, and the things that the Jewish people had to endure. It is an easy three night read that will leave you wondering how these things happened to normal people.

This is an amazing book and should be required reading for middle school students. It is mind boggling what this very young child had to endure and survived. Much of the time without the benefit of even knowing the whereabouts or wellbeing of his parents. As a young man and adult he chose NOT to live his life as a victim. Inspiring story of overcoming obstacles that are unthinkable.

When reading A LUCKY CHILD, I thought about the film LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, both seen through the eyes of a young boy. This memoir about Thomas Buergenthal's life in concentration camps during the Holocaust is truly unforgettable. How this young child survives through the horrors of such an ordeal is beyond me? He truly was a lucky child and to write it down for generations to read, we have become the lucky ones. This book details the losses he experienced, the travels through various `work' camps, the liberation by the Russian army and the search for his parents afterward. His story is a remarkable one and to learn that he has devoted his adult life to international and human rights law shows what an amazing person he has become. This is a must read.

I first read about Thomas Buergenthal in the George Washington University Magazine. I was fascinated by his achievements and purchased his book knowing that it had many lessons to teach. I found myself transported to the horrific, frightening world of the Nazis. His story is compelling not only because he was able to survive the brutality of Auschwitz but because he was able to forgive. His conciliatory voice brings closure to his past and allows him to move forward. The Nazi's may have attempted to take away his humanity but they failed desperately. A Lucky Child is a must read for all. It will rip at your heart, you will question the existences of God, but in the end you will smile at the Power of Forgiveness. Filomena Abys-Smith author A Bit of Myself

This book was enthralling all the way through. The author was able to show the fear and horror of his time in the ghettos and camps with just enough detail. I've read a few books about the Holocaust, and this one stands out for me. I found it to be a bit more accessible than some. I even gave it to my 12-year-old nephew to read, and he gobbled it up and said it was better than what he had read in school about the subject. One of the nice things about it is how this boy grew up and spent his career helping other victims of human rights abuses. It's a quick read that leaves you dwelling on the positives instead of the horrors.

I read any memoir about the Holocaust that I find. This is truly a great book. Hard to call a book that is written about suffering in the worst way, great, but it is. I believe with my whole heart that these are the kinds of books that every person on this planet needs to read. Why? So we don't ever repeat this kind of History.

This book is informational and it gives you the perspective of a child surviving horrendous events. Th author talks about his feelings and other people's feelings in regards to the Germans after the war and how that led him to become an international lawyer for Human Rights. While I did not find this book to be a tear jerker like so many books on the Holocaust, it was very matter of fact kind of book that makes you think about the things that can be done so that these atrocities do not happen again instead of just filling you with emotion and in some ways hatred for the people that committed these autrocities.

I must make an admission . . . I am a Holocaust-a-holic. I love all books about that subject. My parents are survivors and I'm always looking to learn more about that time period. But I feel that like with my mother, who never wanted to really wanted tell me about the horrors, Mr Buergenthal also withheld much of the sorrows and terrors he saw and felt. I did learn a lot about pre and post wartime, but within the camp itself I wish had had the chance to hear more.

Gut-wrenching! A story of epic proportions. Few books, if any, have evoked the level of emotion I felt while reading Tommy's story. As I experienced his journey through hell, I found moments of sheer euphoria and triumph, as well as moments of hope for humanity. Tommy's story made me cry with sadness and with joy. It made me hug my children. This memoir is more than a story. It is a gift to future generations. As strange as it sounds, I feel blessed to have seen the holocaust through Tommy's eyes because it has made me see our world a little differently through my own. Thank you Mr. Buergenthal for having the courage to share your remarkable and very unique story.

Buergenthal's autobiography and ode to human rights is moving and inspiring, though lacking in flourishes. He is clearly a lovely, mission driven man who deals in facts, a rare combination. Worth reading!

How many Tommys did the Nazis kill? Had these six million Jewish people survived, how different would the landscape of the world be, especially if there were even just just 100 Tommys, a fraction of a percent!