How Does A Boy Survive A Holocaust?

 SOUTHBURY — What was it like for a 9-year-old boy to be a slave laborer in a Nazi concentration camp? How could a child risk his life to sabotage the Nazi war machine?

The answer will come from Martin Schiller, a Holocaust survivor and author of Bread, Butter, and Sugar: A Boy’s  Journey through the Holocaust, when he speaks at the Love & Knishes Lunch Program on Wednesday, July 25. Mr Schiller’s presentation will immediately follow lunch at noon; the full program will take place at the Walzer Family Jewish Community Campus, 444 Main Street North.

Mr Schiller, writing in third person, told his own story as a boy caught up in the fear of World War II and ultimately interned at the Buchenwald concentration camp. His book, primarily intended for high school students, was written after a career in the United States as an electrical engineer specializing in pollution control.

Mr Schiller, now 73 and a resident of Fairfield, published his memoir through Hamilton Books and has been speaking on a book tour since February. His recollection of his boyhood in Buchenwald takes the reader down a desperate and long struggle to survive the war, eventually on a search for surviving family members and finally wandering through Europe for a new home.

The author captured the child’s point of view: Mr Schiller was 6 when the Nazis invaded Poland and 9 when he and his family were captured. He survived Buchenwald because he was a hard worker and learned to speak Russian, enabling him to be hidden among Russian prisoners at the camp, operating bullet-working machinery. His book describes how he sabotaged the machinery, despite the likelihood of immediate execution if he was caught.

In April 1945 the US Army liberated Buchenwald and Mr Schiller began his walk through Europe to start a new life.

In its review of Schiller’s book, The Journal Inquirer of Manchester said: “Their journey seems like madness — two boys in tattered clothing walking, hitching rides, hopping freight trains, and begging food across a ruined and bitter nation that had just tried to destroy them.  But through happy coincidence they found their mother as soon as they got to the town where they had been told she was staying. Then they all found enough sanctuary in displaced persons camps until relatives in the United States located them and arranged their immigration.”

Mr Schiller wrote in a short and matter-of-fact style that conveys a gripping story from a child’s viewpoint. With fewer and fewer Holocaust survivors remaining to tell their story, Mr Schiller’s book and personal appearances have resulted in high praise from both professional reviewer and lay audience.

Reservations are requested by Friday, July 20. The suggested lunch donation is $5.50 for adults age 60 and over and $8 for those under 60. To RSVP, call Debby Horowitz, Brownstein Jewish Family Service Director, at 267-3177, extension 105.