A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy

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"

I couldn't put it down. I've read other survivor stories and what's so beautiful about this one is that the parent's love for their child was so strong and true, and Thomas's respect and love for his parents remained intact; he was not engulfed by the evil that was all around him. This book is a testament to the overriding power of love. I imagine its his parents love for him that kept his spirit willing to go on even as his body wanted to give up.

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.

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.