The Boy On the Wooden Box: Week of 1/26

Quote & Interpretation

Pages: 80-166

I myself am no stranger WWII and Holocaust based type readings. Due to this, in a way, I have a rather "high standard" when it comes to books based upon these events. Books such as The Book Thief, The Boy Who Dared, The Devil's Arithmetic, and other books have left a realistic, yet still fictitious information on what it was like to live in either a concentration camp or as a German citizen at the time. Despite these reads, I can not remember a time in which I have read something such as The Boy On The Wooden Box (a memoir.) It's influence travels much farther than one would imagine, especially in realization that what Leon Leyson writes, is true.

As Leon continues to narrate his story life and childhood it is difficult to keep one's emotion's in check. Personally, I found it extremely difficult when Leon (both the author & main character) refers to a quote in the Talmud, "He who saves a life saves the world entire." Once reading this, I felt that little people truly knew what some, during the 1940's, went through to save lives. In the case of the book, Oskar Schindler, a German factory owner, risked his life on a daily to save nearly 1, 200 people who were thought to be worthless. Of course, Schindler was not able to save all of those who died in concentration camps but he had the courage to save them either way. By saving 1,200 people Oskar Schindler was able to save us from ourselves. These 1,200 people, after being saved, were another opportunity to remind us of previous horrors as we honored those whose innocent lives were taken away, simply because they did not fit the standards of a fascist country.

This week, my blog is not so much about my book as it is an appraisal. My appraisal to Oskar Schindler, the man who was a walking paradox in the most positive of ways. His disposition kind yet constantly scheming. Schindler's methods of survival were completely unorthodox yet he managed to play by a rulebook only the greatest of minds could understand. By day, Oskar played the part of a proud Nazi, yet by night he was able to speak with all his Jewish workers as if they were like any other person, which they were, but were never viewed as such by others. Without people such as Oskar Schindler our world, as we see it, would be all but nonexistent due to the fact that people such as Oskar are the ones who allows to view the world as it is not as we would like it to be. Oskar's view on the world allowed him to see the horrid actions which were committed and allowed him to save hundreds of lives, something others failed to do.

Comments: Autumn, Citllalli, Steven