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He was born in Lubochna, Czechoslovakia to a Jewish family with a German mother and a Polish father.
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The author doesn't have a clear memory of when the event took place, but only that is was either late 1938 or early 1939.
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Here, his family obtained the necessary documents to escape to England, but as their train was going to the area of departure, it gets attacked by the Germans.
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Here, most Kielce residents were massacred, and the last remaining lived in a small part which became a labor camp. As it was being evacuated, he lost many loved ones and saw many people die, including a young man who he saw upfront be shot for looting (that memory stayed anytime he heard or saw someone being shot)
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As he laid on the floor, getting ready to die, he accepted his death and realized that any attempt at escape would be futile, though he didn't die, because some merciful SS officers spared him.
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The Russians and Polish solders helped liberate his camp. As he was rescued he was filled with joy
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He reunited with his mother after 2 and a half years of separation. They met in Gottingen, the birthplace of his mother.
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In the book, he starts of as a happy and joyful kid, but overtime, he descends into a child that has accepted life. He became a mature adult when he was a child. Death was a gift when he was about to die, but when he was spared from by merciful SS officers and liberated by the Soviets, and reunited with his mother, he became the happy child he was before. He would never change from the event, he became a happy and positive person.
