Zusatztext * Leyson! who died in January at age 83! was No. 289 on Schindler's list and its youngest member. He was just 13 when Leyson's father convinced Oskar Schindler to let Little Leyson (as Schindler knew him) and other family members find refuge in the Emalia factory; Leyson was so small he had to stand on a box to work the machinery. Leyson and his coauthors give this wrenching memoir some literary styling! but the book is at its most powerful when Leyson relays the events in a straightforward manner! as if in a deposition! from the shock of seeing his once-proud father shamed by anti-Semitism to the deprivation that defined his youth. Schindler remains a kindly but enigmatic figure in Leyson's retelling! occasionally doting but usually distant. Leyson makes it clear that being Schindler Jews offered a thread of hope! but it never shielded them from the chaos and evil that surrounded them. Readers will close the book feeling that they have made a genuinely personal connection to this remarkable man. Informationen zum Autor Leon Leyson was one of the youngest members of Schindler's List. He brings a unique perspective to the history of the Holocaust and a powerful message of courage and humanity. Believing that no one would be interested in his story, he rarely spoke about his experiences until the film Schindler's List received worldwide attention.A graduate of Los Angeles City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Pepperdine University, he taught at Huntington Park High School in Huntington Park, California, for thirty-nine years. In recognition of his many accomplishments as educator and witness to the Holocaust, Mr. Leyson was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Chapman University.Mr. Leyson passed away in January 2013, leaving behind his wife, Lis; their two children; and six grandchildren. Klappentext The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child. Includes photographs of Leon Leyson's family. Leseprobe The Boy on the Wooden Box I RAN BAREFOOT ACROSS THE Meadow toward the river. Once among the trees, I flung off my clothes, grabbed my favorite low-hanging branch, swung out across the river, and let go. A perfect landing! Floating along in the water, I heard one splash and then another as two of my friends joined me. Soon we climbed out of the river and raced back to our favorite branches to start all over again. When lumberjacks working upstream threatened to spoil our fun by sending their freshly cut trees downstream to the mill, we adapted quickly, opting to lie on our backs, each on a separate log, gazing at the sunlight breaking through the canopy of oak, spruce, and pines. No matter how many times we repeated these routines, I never tired of them. Sometimes on those hot summer days, we wore swim trunks, at least if we thought any adults might be around. Mostly we wore nothing. What made the escapades even more exciting was that my mother had forbidden my going to the river. After all, I didn't know how to swim. In winter the river was just as much fun. My older brother Tsalig helped me create ice skates from all kinds of unlikely materials, metal remnants retrieved from our grandfather the blacksmith and bits of wood from the firewood pile. We were inventive in crafting our skates. They were primitive and clumsy, but they worked! I was small yet fast; I loved racing with the bigger boys across the bumpy ice. One time David, another of my brothers, skated on thin ice that gave way. He fell into the freezing river. Luckily, it was sh...

* “Leyson, who died in January at age 83, was No. 289 on Schindler’s list and its youngest member. He was just 13

when Leyson’s father convinced Oskar Schindler to let “Little Leyson” (as Schindler knew him) and other family

members find refuge in the Emalia factory; Leyson was so small he had to stand on a box to work the machinery.

Leyson and his coauthors give this wrenching memoir some literary styling, but the book is at its most powerful when

Leyson relays the events in a straightforward manner, as if in a deposition, from the shock of seeing his once-proud

father shamed by anti-Semitism to the deprivation that defined his youth. Schindler remains a kindly but enigmatic

figure in Leyson’s retelling, occasionally doting but usually distant. Leyson makes it clear that being “Schindler Jews”

offered a thread of hope, but it never shielded them from the chaos and evil that surrounded them. Readers will close

the book feeling that they have made a genuinely personal connection to this remarkable man.”

Autorentext

Leon Leyson was one of the youngest members of Schindler’s List. He brings a unique perspective to the history of the Holocaust and a powerful message of courage and humanity. Believing that no one would be interested in his story, he rarely spoke about his experiences until the film Schindler’s List received worldwide attention.

A graduate of Los Angeles City College; California State University, Los Angeles; and Pepperdine University, he taught at Huntington Park High School in Huntington Park, California, for thirty-nine years. In recognition of his many accomplishments as educator and witness to the Holocaust, Mr. Leyson was awarded an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Chapman University.

Mr. Leyson passed away in January 2013, leaving behind his wife, Lis; their two children; and six grandchildren.

Klappentext

The biography of Leon Leyson, the only memoir published by a former Schindler's List child. Includes photographs of Leon Leyson's family.

Zusammenfassung
“Much like The Boy In the Striped Pajamas or The Book Thief,” this remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list, “brings to readers a story of bravery and the fight for a chance to live” (VOYA).

This, the only memoir published by a former Schindler’s list child, perfectly captures the innocence of a small boy who goes through the unthinkable. Leon Leyson (born Leib Lezjon) was only ten years old when the Nazis invaded Poland and his family was forced to relocate to the Krakow ghetto. With incredible luck, perseverance, and grit, Leyson was able to survive the sadism of the Nazis, including that of the demonic Amon Goeth, commandant of Plaszow, the concentration camp outside Krakow.

Ultimately, it was the generosity and cunning of one man, Oskar Schindler, who saved Leon Leyson’s life, and the lives of his mother, his father, and two of his four siblings, by adding their names to his list of workers in his factory—a list that became world renowned: Schindler’s list.

Told with an abundance of dignity and a remarkable lack of rancor and venom, The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read.

Leseprobe
The Boy on the Wooden Box

I RAN BAREFOOT ACROSS THE Meadow toward the river. Once among the trees, I flung off my clothes, grabbed my favorite low-hanging branch, swung out across the river, and let go.

A perfect landing!

Floating along in the water, I heard one splash and then another as two of my friends joined me. Soon we climbed out of the river and raced back to our favorite branches to start all over again. When lumberjacks working upstream threatened to spoil our fun by sending their freshly cut trees downstream to the mill, we adapted quickly, opting to lie on our backs, each on a separate log, gazing at the sunlight breaking through the canopy of oak, spruce, and pines.

No matter how many times we repeated these routines, I never tired of them. Sometimes on those hot summer days, we wore swi…