THE BOY ON THE WOODEN BOX

By Leon Leyson

[Blurb: Even in the darkest of times—especially in the darkest of times—there is room for strength and bravery. A remarkable memoir from Leon Leyson, one of the youngest children to survive the Holocaust on Oskar Schindler’s list.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, a man named 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.

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. Most notable is the lack of rancor, the lack of venom, and the abundance of dignity in Mr. Leyson’s telling. The Boy on the Wooden Box is a legacy of hope, a memoir unlike anything you’ve ever read]

I really enjoyed this book and was touched by Schindler's persistence to keep this family together after they were separated several times and sent back to the camps. Years later when he was reunited with some of the people still alive that were on his list, he still remembered them, and in particular Leon. 

RENA'S PROMISE

A Story of Sisters in Auschwitz

by Heather Dune Macadam
Co-author of Rena's Promise

This is one of those book you don’t just read it….it becomes a part of you!
I was very touched by the memoirs of Rena and her story of surviving the Nazi concentration camps with her sister, Danka.

Until I read this book I wasn’t aware that this year, 26 March 2012, marks the 70^th Anniversary of the first transport to Auschwitz concentration camp. That first transport in 1942 was almost entirely young women between the ages of 16 and 22. Among those 999 young Jewish women was #1716, Rena Kornreich, a 21yr old Polish Jew hiding in Slovakia. A few days later, her sister Danka #2779 arrived. This began a trial of love and courage that would last 3 years and 41 days, from the beginning of their journey in Auschwitz, to the death march through the snow, and on to the end of the war. Her motivation to keep her and her sister alive no matter what happened came from a promise to her parents to keep her younger sister safe. Her visions of her mother helped her through the most difficult times.

I also wasn’t aware that women's accounts of the Holocaust are rare, and until ‘Rena's Promise’, there has been no other book written by a survivor from the first transport of women, mainly because not many women survived. And for that reason alone she is historically important. Her details of events are confirmed in many archival documents and plans. There are many more testimonies published from male survivors than women's accounts, yet the fact remains that the first transport was not men but girls on the verge of womanhood. They were targeted by the Nazis as they wanted to stop the continuity of Jewish life.