Boy 30529: A Memoir

by Felix Weinberg

Anyone who survived the extermination camps must have an untypical story to tell. The typical camp story of the millions ended in death ... We, the few who survived the war and the majority who perished in the camps, did not use and would not have understood terms such as 'holocaust' or 'death march.' These were coined later, by outsiders.

In 1939 twelve-year-old Felix Weinberg fell into the hands of the Nazis. Imprisoned for most of his teenage life, Felix survived five concentration camps, including Terezin, Auschwitz, and Birkenau, barely surviving the Death March from Blechhammer in 1945. After losing his mother and brother in the camps, he was liberated at Buchenwald and eventually reunited at seventeen with his father in Britain, where they built a new life together. Boy 30529 is an extraordinary memoir of the Holocaust, as well as a moving meditation on the nature of memory.

Genres: Holocaust, Nonfiction, Memoir, History, World War II, Biography, War

192 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Anto M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Dopo aver cercato, negli ultimi sessantacinque anni, di dimenticare e cancellare dalla memoria le esperienze della mia adolescenza ad Auschwitz o in altri campi di concentramento nazisti, ora mi sto lasciando convincere che è per me un dovere, verso i miei cari e non solo, metterle per iscritto. In famiglia, l’argomento non viene quasi mai menzionato. Questo in gran parte per volere di Jill, la mia adorata moglie[..] Probabilmente era rimasta lei stessa traumatizzata dagli incubi che ebbi i primi tempi, ed è chiaro che doveva aver deciso di proteggere i bambini, evitando che rimuginassero sul tema. La storia che papà aveva una pessima memoria ed era stato costretto a tatuarsi il numero di telefono sul braccio ebbe vita breve."

Mentre leggevo mi veniva in mente una canzone dal titolo "Il mondo visto con gli occhi di un bambino". Fa differenza quando una storia è narrata da chi all'epoca dei fatti è un bambino, o un adulto consapevole. I bambini, a mio avviso, hanno un diverso modo di adattarsi alle situazioni, sono ancora in fase di formazione e vedono le cose in maniera più distaccata perché, fino in fondo, non comprendono alla perfezione cosa stia accadendo davvero intorno a loro. Per questo questo libro di Felix Weinberg lo vedo adatto a tutti, anche a coloro che non si approcciano alle letture sull'olocausto perché troppo da digerire. È come se fosse riuscito a filtrare tra i suoi ricordi e non dare descrizioni eccessivamente particolareggiate degli orrori vissuti. Interessante il racconto dell'evolversi della sua vita prima di arrivare al primo dei campi di concentramento che lo hanno "ospitato", ma ancora di più è affascinante il modo in cui l'autore, divenuto un fisico rinomato, fa riferimento a termini scientifici e usa la scienza in tutto il libro; per esempio, cercando di indovinare quali sostanze chimiche ci fossero nella zuppa del campo. La sua predisposizione alle materie scientifiche era già molto spiccata.

Il mio fioretto annuale del "non dimenticare" è stato portato a compimento, lo sento ormai un dovere, come è un dovere per chi sa, di raccontare.

"Tutti coloro che hanno a cuore che tale orrendo periodo storico venga documentato come si deve, devono essere grati a Felix Weinberg per averci fornito questo resoconto acuto e in fondo edificante."
Suzanne Bardgett, responsabile della ricerca Imperial War Museum Settembre 2011

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What sets this apart from other Holocaust memoirs is how the author, who became a renowned physicist, makes reference to scientific terms and uses science throughout the book; for example, trying to guess what chemicals were in the camp soup. It's quite charming actually.

I also appreciated how the book ended. Some Holocaust memoirs end at liberation, leaving me frustrated as to what happened to the rest of the writer's life. Some go waaaaay too far into post-liberation years and become boring. I thought Weinberg struck just the right balance here.

Well, this is another blow against the stereotype that scientists are bad writers.

[Carolyn Scarcella · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an extraordinary, moving, and genuine memoir he wrote just like Elie Wiesel which I’ve enjoyed reading this book. Both men have survived on a different point of life.

I’m surprised for him to able to share his story before the war, during the camp and after the war. It is easy to see that though he remembers life in the camps with a terrible clarity, he has no wish to dwell on it.

Felix survived five concentration camps, including Terezin, Auschwitz, and Birkenau, barely surviving the Death March from Blechhammer in 1945. After losing his mother and brother in the camps, he was liberated at Buchenwald and eventually reunited at seventeen with his father in Britain, where they built a new life together.

I’m glad he wrote the book two years later before he died. He promised his mother that he would tell his story and he did.

[Christine Fay · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Felix writes, “. . . the episode helps to explain why I am thankful, but never proud, to have survived the camps. In my view, we, the survivors, are all somewhat compromised. We did not sacrifice our lives so that others might perhaps stand a slightly better chance of living. As it is, survival feels less like a heroic act than like having won a lottery against truly astronomical odds. It is easy to fantasize that there must have been some profound underlying reason for one’s survival, but in the end it was probably just a combination of chance and an aptitude for self-preservation” (106). This memoir can be read in 1-2 sittings; it’s a straightforward account of his experiences as a young Czechoslovakian boy whose family was compromised during the holocaust. Having gone on to accomplish great things in the world of Physics, this memoir chronicles his life as he was forced out of formal education and into the death camps as a laborer. His survival is miraculous, and what’s truly interesting about this story is that he undertook the writing of it at the age of 82. I guess after 65 years of trying to forget what happened, it did him good to purge his memory of the time by putting it to paper. An easy and accessible read.

[Susan Rappaport · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent holocaust story about a teen boy who survived the camps. He became a physicist and his insights about survival are fascinating. He talks about how chaotic it was between the time of liberation and the actual institution of government. He just died in December 2012. Glad he wrote the book.

[ᛚᚨᚱᚲᚨ × ᚠᛖᚾᚱᛁᚱ (Semi hiatus) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nei campi cercai di acquisire la capacità di guardare senza vedere, ascoltare senza sentire ed odorare senza assimilare ciò che mi circondava. Coltivai una sorta di amnesia autoindotta. Temevo che essere costretto a guardare le impiccagioni, vedere quotidianamente pile di cadaveri, avrebbe in qualche modo contaminato la mia mente in modo permanente.

La storia del fisico Felix Weinberg ha quasi dell'incredibile: è sopravvissuto a ben cinque campi di concentramento per una serie di eventi talmente fortunata ed improbabile, che si è seriamente domandate se parlarne, per paura di non essere preso sul serio.

[...] alcune delle cose che mi successero oggi sembrano così inverosimili che ho seriamente valutato se escluderle dal libro, temendo che i lettori pensassero me le fossi inventate di sana pianta. Ma, a ripensarci bene, sarebbe stato disonesto quanto una falsificazione, quindi eccovi i fatti.

Purtroppo la fortuna non ha sorriso a tutti i membri della sua famiglia: madre, fratellino, nonno e zia sono stati uccisi nei campi di concentramento dalla furia nazista.

La crudeltà e la brutalità, comunque, non furono inventate dai nazisti. Nel medioevo la gente veniva sbudellata, tirata sulla ruota fino a romperle tutte le ossa o messa al rogo legata ad un palo. Ma il contributo unico e originale dei nazisti alla disumanità dell'uomo nei confronti dei suoi simili fu l'industrializzazione del genocidio.

L'unico legame affettivo che gli rimarrà alla fine della guerra sarà quello con suo padre, scampato alle deportazioni dopo essersi trasferito in Inghilterra, nella speranza di poter evitare un destino crudele alla sua famiglia.
Il motivo della mia valutazione "neutra" è dovuto al fatto che il libro non è un resoconto tanto dei campi di concentramento, quanto del periodo antecedente e posteriore ai fatti. Resta comunque un libro con una forte venatura affettiva, scritto con gli occhi di un fanciullo prima, e come un adulto pronto a cercare il suo posto nel mondo dopo. Forse questo è dovuto non solo al vuoti di memoria autoindotti circa la sua esperienza, ma anche alla sua avversione per la "narrativa di genere".

Non è mai stata mia intenzione scrivere dei lager, in parte perchè ho cercato con tutto me stesso di dimenticare; volevo vivere per il futuro e non definirmi "un sopravvissuto ai campi". Ho sempre teso ad evitare la letteratura sull'Olocausto, trovando alcuni dei recenti resoconti romanzati spacciate per storie vere profondamente inquietanti. Quella di falsificare una storia per produrre un racconto più vendibile non è un'operazione nuova, naturalmente, e nella misura in cui il risultato è presentato come finzione non c'è problema; ma molto spesso non è così. Se fossi un discendente di Salieri, sarei senza dubbio infastidito dalla convinzione diffusa che il mio antenato avesse avvelenato Mozart. E per dirla tutta, sono seccato quanto ogni inglese purosangue dal fatto che un recente film abbia falsamente attribuito la cattura della cruciale macchina Enigma agli americani.
Niente di tutto ciò, però, si può paragonare alla ripugnanza che le storie inventate sull'Olocausto provocano in me e negli altri pochi sopravvissuti con i quali sono rimasto in contatto. Per noi la cosa equivale a profanare delle tombe di guerra. Poco meno di settanta relitti di navi e tutti gli aerei militari precipitati sott'acqua sono custoditi come monumenti funebri di guerra dal Protection of Military Remains Act del 1968: saccheggiarli è un reato. Quel documento è l'espressione del rispetto della nazione per alcune migliaia di individui coraggiosi che hanno dato la loro vita per una causa per cui valeva la pena morire. Nel nostro caso stiamo parlando di molti milioni di persone, per lo più bambini, donne e uomini troppo vecchi o malati per lavorare, morti per il capriccio di una mente squilibrata. Dovremmo almeno mostrare loro abbastanza rispetto da astenerci dall'inventare false vicende sul modo in cui le loro esistenze si sono spente.

Ad accentuare le memorie e l'affetto che l'autore nutriva per la sua famiglia, il libro è arricchito con alcune fotografie su carta patinata, nonchè un senso dell'umorismo divertente quanto prezioso e inaspettato, considerando gli orrori che ha dovuto affrontare fin dalla tenera età.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am kicking myself for not writing down some of my favorite quotes from this book before I returned it to the library. Weinberg has such a distinct, fresh writing style, which is interesting considering you'd think it'd be exactly the opposite based on stereotypes about physicists. He shared unique details about his life before the war, in the ghettos, and then throughout the three concentration camps he was in. One of the details I hadn't really considered in camp life was the sleep deprivation that he and other prisoners experienced, as they were in a labor camp and forced to rise very early for roll calls, then sleep in very cramped positions in their bunks after hard labor on little food. Sometimes the story could be a bit disjointed or hard to follow, but I think in a way that was a product of his memories being fragmented rather than only his writing ability (which he explains by discussing how part of his survival strategy was to see without seeing and hear without hearing...). His frank assessment of how he is always glad that he survived but never proud was sobering and thought-provoking in his recognition of the the myriad of small choices he made each day that contributed to his own survival while possibly being to the detriment of another's. It was so sad to read that he wasn't able to fully finish this book before he died... but I'm glad that he took this project upon himself to share his experiences in such a candid, loving, and memorable way.

[Lydia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3-4 star. Definitely a different take on the Holocaust. This autobiography is about a teenager who survives multiple camps, marches, etc... He did not want that part of his life to define him and I think that comes out a bit in the generally unemotional telling of the story. To survive he turned a blind eye at the time. And yet there were parts that steamed with life and emotions.

This book left me pondering how different personalities react to similar circumstances. And how our life views are affecting by our childhoods. So glad my kids can be kids...there is a big part of loving life and having self-confidence to face our trials that is built into us at a young age.

Oh, also wanted to add that it was a very fast short read. Less than 170 small pages.

[Patience Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

wow!

This is a completely different boy’s life in WWII than that of the prisoner of the Japanese The Diary of Prisoner 17326. Professor Weinberg wrote it late in life but it is a fascinating account of surviving the Holocaust as a teenager. My favorite lines in it were where he pointed out how the master race had turned themselves into untermenschen in their quest to rule the world. Current right wing politicians and followers come to mind.

[Elizabeth Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I different perspective given by a Holocaust survivor, with a focus on the feelings rather than the events, which we all know the facts about already. This memoir is poignant and well written with a touch of dark humor here and there.

[Virpi Leinonen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's funny how you can easily tell that he isn't a writer, but a physicist.
But it's still very good. He tells things how he remembers, very analytically and honestly.
It fits the subject perfectly.

I'm glad he got to share this before his passing.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know if "enjoy" is the right word considering the subject matter, but for lack of a better one, I did enjoy this book.
I thought it was different than other Holocaust survivor books I've read. Even though the feel of the book was (IMO) very analytical - he wrote more about his feelings, his coping and defense mechanisms (with bits of dark humor thrown in here and there) during these events than I've read in other books, which seem to focus on events.

A couple of my favorite passages:

"History is necessarily written by the survivors, but at its core it is the story of the victims. It is always liable to distortion because anyone who survived the extermination camps must have an untypical story to tell. The typical camp history of the millions ended in death, and could therefore never be told in the first person"

"In the camps I tried to acquire the ability to look without seeing, listen without hearing and smell without taking in what was around me. I cultivated a sense of self-induced anemia. I feared that being made to look at hangings, seeing piles of corpses on a daily basis would somehow contaminate my mind permanently. To quote George Bernard Shaw from Man and Superman 'Better keep yourself clean and bright for you are the window through which you must see the world"

"Although I did not cause serious hurt, the episode helps to explain why I am thankful, but never proud, to have survived the camps. In my view, we, the survivors, ae all somewhat compromised. We did not sacrifice our lives so that mothers might perhaps stand a slightly better chance of living. As it is, survival feels less like a heroic act than like having won a lottery against truly astronomic odds. It is easy to fantasise that there must have been some profound underlying reason for one's survival, but i the end it was probably just a combinations of chance and an aptitude for self-preservation"

[sheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an excellent book by a brilliant man. I've probably read a hundred nazi era memoirs. They all have some unique perspective on this unbelievable time in history. Weinberg's is an especially good read because of his humility, intelligence, a certain winning innocence and wit. Forced to leave school at 12, he had no schooling until after the war at 17 when he reunited with his father in England and yet he excelled (tho not without trials) and became a British physicist with many accolades. As I find in many of these accounts, he never discussed what he had endured even with his own father (who had escaped the war), though he lost his mother and brother and other family. He was hesitant even to write this but it's certainly important that after 50 years, he did. I highly recommend, especially considering our present day global issues.

[Anne Vandenbrink · Rating 2 out of 5]

Felix spent 5 years in different camps from the age of 12 to 17. There were situations that helped him survive. He was the one that ladled the morning coffee and soup and he ate last. Giving him the more sugared morning drink and more nutritious dregs of soup. His job of building railroads was overseen by inmates themselves who let everyone sneak catnaps during the day. Most important, and I think because of his privileged circumstances, he kept a positive outlook which also helped him cope. But I believe this book is not a reflection of what the masses endured. Hence the two stars.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

very well written memoir of Felix Weinberg's experience.
He writes about his life during the war and how he
felt, why he waited to write and how about his feelings.
He is very expressive.

[Daramegan · Rating 5 out of 5]

http://daramegan.cz/recenze/byl-jsem-...

[ilo.reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anyone who survive exterminations camps must have an untypical story to tell. Excellent holocaust story! This book is about a child who at the age of twelve who lost everything (hope, love, home and family).

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short book telling the story of Felix Weinberg's experiences in not one but five concentration camps, the death march he was forced to walk and his liberation and reunion with his father at age 17.

It's an interesting story told by Felix but at the same time told with a certain detachment. He doesn't dwell on horrific instances very much but when he relates a particular memory it is that much more poignant and awful simply because it's told in such a matter of fact way.

I often go through spurts of holocaust related reading and as a result I've read many, many books told by many, many survivors. This one now stands out, in part, because of Felix's views on the experience and the memoirs of it.

"Anyone who survived the exterminations camps must have an untypical story to tell. The typical camp story of the millions ended in death ... We, the few who survived the war and the majority who perished in the camps, did not use and would not have understood terms such as 'holocaust' or 'death march.' These were coined later, by outsiders."

[Becki Basley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to say you could tell right away that this book was written by someone very reluctant to tell their story. He presents an interesting point of view often letting the scientist he is show through. He also is the second Holocaust survivor I have read who does not approve of the tourist cleansing of the concentration camps. He felt specifically that lime should have been poured on the ground to keep it as grassless as it was when he was an inmate there. Its really understandable why he feels the way he does. He also covers the end of the war and how after he was reunited with his father, they did not talk about what had happened. That he hid from the parts of his life that were bad and refused to remember them. He went on to be a very well knowned physicist and it's interesting to see how his life led him to that career choice. It's definitely a new perspective on what I have read previously so I would recommend it.

[Ani Ivanova · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read much of this kind of books, although I love real stories narrated, not just fiction. In comparison with others I have read, this one is almost the best, but only as regarding the authenticity which I appreciate the most.
I must say that everytime I expect something more cruel, extreme, disturbing, more details and more than we all know from general knowledge about Holocaust, because those are emotions I seek and look for in this genre and promptly I find myself in a state of ''I haven't had enough and need to know more about it''. This one was not an exception.
The compensation for which I give 5 stars, is that I felt the story real also due to the photographs included in the book and partly because we know the writer was already old when he wrote the memoires.

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Felix Weinberg takes us from his hometown in Aussig, Bohemia through his time in the concentration camps of Terezin, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Blechammer, and Buchenwald between the ages of 12 and 18. He wrote this shortly before his death in 2012. His words make his life come into view for us with a freshness that keeps this from being just another book. When his memory fails and seems to come from somewhere else, he tells us. He wants his story to be truthful and as accurate as possible. He survived to go to England where he became the first professor of Combustion Physics at Imperial College and a world-renowned physicist. Very easy to read and very interesting.

[Diane Adams · Rating 5 out of 5]

A view of the Holocaust we don't often get, and won't be getting more of, as the youngest survivors are in their 90s. A man tells the story of his life before, experiences in several camps during, what happened when the camps were liberated, and what his life was like after. Really nice to read a story of the time that has a relatively happy ending.

[Beate · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, concise personal story of a boy's survival through the 2nd world war. The author passed before finishing this book, so there is no official "ending", however, it allows readers to understand (at least a little), the atrocities of the war. A story of survival and ultimately success in life.

[Iwik Pásková · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tato kniha se mi moc líbila. Autor v ní dokázal živě vylíčit nástrahy života Židů za druhé světové války. Zobrazil útrapy židovského obyvatelstva v koncentračních táborech. Více se dočtete v recenzi: http://www.iwikovaknihovna.cz/2021/01...

[Candy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several biographies of Holocaust survivors especially since I took an entire class on the subject in college. I have yet to come across someone as optimistic as Weinberg. Excellent read! Highly recommend this book

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent read. I enjoyed hearing the authors story from start to finish. You were able to learn about his childhood before the war, during the war, and after liberation. It was nice knowing what happened in his later years and not be left guessing.

[Victoria Shepherd · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brief book contains volumes of information. The idyllic remembered beauty of life before the war violently contrasts with the horror of war and is shatteringly heartbreaking.

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good. Very enlightening as to what went on in the camps and how some managed to survive.

[Shikha Malviya · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of best recounts of holocaust experience.

[Glen Chern · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing Insights

This was the 1st book that I read written by a A holocaust survivor. The author, Felix Weinberg ,Was both a native of Czechoslovakia As well as being a Jew During the Outbreak of world war 2. Not only was he a holocaust survivor but he also Was a captive in several concentration camps including Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Weinberg was a teenager at the time that he was 1st held captive By the Nazis. In this memoir, the author describes the living conditions of the prisoners in these camps as well as the horrific Conditions They experienced during the brutal winters . What I found captivating, However Was his Psyche as he went through a wide range of emotions during his captivity. He discusses moments of great optimism Mixed with feelings of total despair. I suspect that His Ability to survive Had a great deal to do with his age.By the time that he was liberated, Weinberg was 17 years old.

A few months after his liberation, He was reunited with his father Who had immigrated to England prior to the Nazi takeover of Czechoslovakia. It was refreshing to hearing him talk about Renewing his relationship with his father Who happened to be the

only survivor of The immediate family besides himself. Weinberg also discussed how he met his future wife While in college in England.

This was an extremely well written memoir And well worth taking the time to read it.Is relatively brief But Very informative.