A Lucky Child

I think it is my duty, not so much as a German (born to non-Nazis in 1939) but as a human being, to keep reading Holocaust memoirs. I cannot read too many in a row, but I read several every year.Yes, Thomas Buergenthal was “A Lucky Child”; otherwise, he would not have lived to write this memoir. But as Ruth Klueger points out in her philosophical Holocaust memoir “Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered”, the luck of the Holocaust survivors does not diminish the dimension of the crime, and the survivors cannot be used as “credits” to be subtracted from the great “debit”.Thomas Buergenthal’s story lets you shudder at how much repeated miraculous luck was necessary for his survival. Religious people will probably replace the term “luck” with other terms. Buergenthal, however, is not religious and attributes his survival to luck.All Holocaust memoirs (i.e., those that stick to the truth and don’t mix facts with fiction) are worthwhile reading, but one cannot possibly read them all. So I try to find those memoirs that are well written and provide some more insights than others. “A Lucky Child” is certainly one of them.Each Holocaust survivor has his or her own story, the story of an individual experience. And while the dreadful living- and dying conditions in concentration camps and on death marches in all of these memoirs are quite alike, the personal experiences differ. What also differs is how the survivors and those in their surroundings deal with their ordeals.What makes this book especially interesting is that the memoir continues after the war and tells about the author’s adult life. Thomas Buergenthal was able to overcome his, quite understandable, initial hate for Germans. He became a human rights activist and a lawyer specialized on international law, dealing with prosecuting war crimes and human rights violations.I strongly recommend the reading of this book. It should, along with some other Holocaust memoirs, be mandatory reading in schools all over the world.Other highly recommendable Holocaust memoirs are:Elie Wiesel’s “Night”Primo Levi’s “Survival in Auschwitz” (orig. title: “If This is a Man”) and its sequel “The Reawakening”—See my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Ruth Klueger’s “Still Alive: A Girlhood Remembered”See my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Peter Kubicek’s “Memories of Evil”See my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...andTema Merback’s “In the Face of Evil”, based on her mother’s Holocaust survivalSee my review at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...One should also not miss “The Complete Maus”, by Art Spiegelman

I found the first published copy at a yard sale. Read it every chance I could during work. By day 1 I only had 3 more chapters to go. I forgot the book the next day at home and on my lunch I had to buy the digital copy to finish reading it. Couldn't wait till I got home to finish it. It's definitely and book you won't be able to put down.

I read this book in a day, unwilling to put it down. As a German this part of our history has always haunted me. I never stop asking g myself what I would have done had I lived through those terrible times. Would I have looked away like so many, pretend I g I didn't see what was happening? I will never know a definite answer to this question.Thank you for writing this book and for your life long commitment for human rights.

I chose to read this book for the hope I wanted to find in it. I have read many personal stories written by other survivors but not one written from the eyes of a child. Though the Author discounts the involvement of God in his life, he left a trail of breadcrumbs to the Creator's doorstep thru the innocent and open heart of the child he still is. A very inspiring and courageous story, well worth reading.

A 75 year old writes about something that happen to him at age 7-12. It took the writer 60 years to finally put down on paper his recollections on the famous death camps of the German Nation during World War 2. If the writer would not be one of the greatest Human Rights advocates would anyone give this book an acknowledgement. If the writer is not part of every great decision on human rights in this decade would it possible that his story he would survive death camps at the child ages of 7-12 be acceptable. If you ask any holocaust expert that a child could survive they would say less than 1%.What am trying to say.Thomas Burgenthal is one great man. His story is the exception of this horror story. If you were to read one recent book about the holocaust look through his eyes of this child and his game of " Staying Alive" so I can one more time be a child protected by my mother, this is it. This child did not have "luck"l as he pointed out, he was Chosen.

It is an unbelievable story of courage and luck. It is wonderfully told story of how an 11 year old boy managed to survive both Auschwitz and Sachsenhausen and even find his mother alive at the end of the war. It is abouve all a book written by a humanist, with a universal moral perspective. It made me cry at the horrors but also at the happy moments. Especially the reunification of little Tommy with his mother and his reunion with Odd Nassen, the Norwegen guy who most probably saved his life in Sachsenhausen. Thomas Buergenthal is a remarkable man and everyone must read his book.

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.

Having just visited Auschwitz/Birkenau, I wanted to read more first hand accounts. This is my first. I nearly gave only three stars. Why? Because personally I don’t like the way in which it was written. However, I would not for one minute say it’s not worth reading, but there is a certain guilt at being negative about somebody recounting something so truly horrific. So four stars!There is no doubt that this is truly a remarkable story and given his age at the time so heart rendering. I admit to shedding a few tears. He admits that he put off writing the book earlier, so it was written after many years passing. He researched dates, (to try and be as accurate as possible), with other people filling in the blanks, he says that time lines may not be as accurate as he would wish. I think this shows in the writing. It’s a shame this wasn’t written when memories were clearer, it’s because of this, I feel had it been written sooner, there would be much more in depth information and descriptions in the different events he was part of. As it is, I think some details, especially the brutality to which many succumbed were perhaps too painful to really go into any great detail. However, his explanation of why he didn’t write it sooner is I suppose understandable. I also found the recap at the end almost bullet pointing what you have just read unnecessary, it was like reading the story all over again. It is wonderful to hear that he has done well in life. That he and his mother was able to move on having lived through something so horrific that many of us still can not truly comprehend.I think it is important to hear about it no matter how it is written, to keep it alive in the minds of us all, so that something so barbaric never happens again.I fully intend on reading many more stories including that of Odd Nansen the Norwegian prisoner who was very kind to Tommy whilst he was in the hospital, and who kept a diary of events, which led to him writing his own book and in which he mentions young Tommy.It will be interesting to read other accounts, to see how others recall and pen their stories.

‘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.

I visited both Auschwitz and Birkennau camps in May 2016 after many years of reading and trying to absorb the real truth and truly understand the real feelings of the holocaust victims. Of course this is an impossibility. I wish that I had read Thomas's account before my visit as many of the areas within the camp I recognise from his writings. This book is written by a man that survived miraculously to tell his story. Whilst perhaps not totally unique his story is told with a childhood honesty and a mature integrity that many would be proud of even without having experienced the very depths of human depravity. I highly recommend this book to all. Thank you Thomas for taking the time to painfully recall your memories for those of us who thankfully will never have to suffer as you and the millions of others that were murdered did.

Thomas Buergenthal is 10 years old when war breaks out under the Nazi rulers of Germany, being of Jewish parentage he and his family are sent to the ghetto of Kielce where violence and death rule, one day soldiers turn up, all the children except Thomas, who is hidden, are separated from their parents and executed, they are then taken to their first labour camp. Thomas is taken from his parents and soon has to learn how to survive and simply to stay alive, he is eventually moved on to the infamous Auschwitz where using his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck he manages to survive, eventually being liberated in Sachsenhausen. At the end of war he was taken to an orphanage for the thousands of children whose families had been wiped out, after two years he was amazed to find his mother but then told his father did not survive. A very moving account of this young childs life, a must read for all young people so that this will always be remembered and that it should never be allowed to happen again.

This book is truly inspiring. It shows that the human spirit can survive in the most inhuman and unimaginable circumstances. There is no bitterness in this memoir, It does not seek revenge or retribution or speak just of the terrible events of the last century that turned a cultured European country under the leadership of an evil and loathsome regime into mass murderers. It speaks of the Holocaust as an evil that happened then and is still in some parts of the world happing still to other ethnic minorities. Two thirds of European Jewish people, men, women and children were systematically murdered during that era. They had their homes and businesses stolen by the state, they were unable to continue in their jobs and professions, the children and young people were removed from the schools and the universities Jewish people were not allowed in parks, cinemas, theatres or restaurants. They could not travel on public transport or even keep a pet. These things happened gradually and it seems incredible to believe now that ordinary non-Jewish Germans and indeed the Jewish community accepted this. Thomas Buergenthal can see that people can easily be manipulated and without realising it their humanity and code of human decency eroded by corrupt leadership. Since his liberation after the second world war, which he miraculously survived when so many did not; he has dedicated his life to fighting prejudice and injustice to all people. First as a human rights lawyer and later as a judge. He has spoken bravely about a few simple acts of kindness by some of his captors, He has spoken about how even in the camps it became survival of the fittest amongst the inmates. This book has a strong message and a warning from history. We must never stand by and allow these things to happen to fellow human beings. We must carry the message of 'Never Again' in our hearts and never allow ourselves to be turned into monsters or victims by accepting evil doctrine and being afraid to say 'No".