"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.