The books title refers to the authors mother, mutti, who while consulting a fortuneteller in katowice, poland was tol. Thomas buergenthal, now a judge in the international court of justice in the hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir a lucky child. A lucky child expanded paperback by thomas buergenthal. Liberated from the death camps of auschwitz at the age of eleven, in adulthood he became a judge at the international court in. Thomas dalton the sad story of holocaust witnesses is wellknown to revisionists. 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. Buergenthal was 6 years old when forced to abandon his home and spend the rest of his childhood running from nazis and struggling to survive the holocaust. Thomas buergenthal, now a judge in the international court of justic. It is a tale of obscure individuals making outrageous claims of gassings and mass murder, often based on hearsay and rumor, often selfcontradictory, and often in conflict with other witnesses, with material.
A lucky child is a memoir written by thomas buergenthal, in the vein of night by elie wiesel or my brothers voice by stephen nasser, in which he recounts the astounding story of his surviving the holocaust as a tenyearold child owing to his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck. He arrived at auschwitz at age 10 after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. Judge thomas buergenthal has recently published a memoir of his life as a child surviving auschwitz. A memoir of surviving auschwitz as a young boy by thomas buergenthal. Publishers summary thomas buergenthal, now a judge in the international court of justice in the hague, tells his astonishing experiences as a young boy in his memoir, a lucky child.
Thomas buergenthal has 18 books on goodreads with 25177 ratings. But as ruth klueger points out in her philosophical holocaust memoir still alive. A lucky child tells the story of thomas buergenthal, born to a germanjewish mother and a polishjewish 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. A lucky child by thomas buergenthal, profile books, london. The book chronicles the authors life in czechoslovakia and escape from a concentration camp. Books by thomas buergenthal author of a lucky child. A lucky child 2007 is a memoir written by thomas buergenthal, in the vein of night by elie. A lucky child is a book that demands to be read by all. A lucky child by thomas buergenthal hachette book group.
Thomas buergenthal s most popular book is a lucky child. His book is both a special historical document and a great literary achievement, comparable only to primo levis masterpieces. Separated first from his mother and then his father, buergenthal managed by his wits and some remarkable strokes of luck to survive on his own. A memoir of surviving auschwitz as a young boy, first published in germany 2007, is author thomas buergenthal s account of his childhood during the nazi occupation. A memoir of surviving auschwitz as a young boy is thomas buergenthals story of survival against incredible odds during the second world war, first at the ghetto in kielce, poland which was later wiped out by the germans, auschwitz where he was imprisoned between august 1944 and january 1945, when he with other able bodied survivors were forced to march on foot in the depths of winter into germany shortly before auschwitz was liberated by soviet troops, and sachsenhausen. A memoir of surviving auschwitz as a young boy, by thomas buergenthal this book is part of genre of literature that i must admit i am familiar with but seldom enjoy reading, and that is memoirs of the survival of the holocaust, of which we should not expect very many new ones given the length of time, except among manuscripts preserved in private and found by divine. Thomas buergenthal, now a judge in the international court of justice in the. Thomas buergenthal a lucky child surviving auschwitz as a.