A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy

Foreword by Elie WieselWith a New Afterword by the Author

Thomas Buergenthal arrived at Auschwitz at age ten after surviving two ghettos and a labor camp. 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. Almost two years after his liberation, Buergenthal was miraculously reunited with his mother and in 1951 arrived in the U.S. to start a new life.

His service as a Judge in the International Court of Justice in The Hague between 2000-2008 was the culmination of a life dedicated to helping those subjected to tyranny throughout the world. A Lucky Child reveals his story with a simple clarity that highlights the stark details of unimaginable hardship.

"A remarkable, sometimes astonishing story of finding protection and kindness from unlikely sources, uncanny narrow escapes and a powerfully strong will to live." ― The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"An extraordinary story, simply and beautifully told. Heartbreaking and thrilling, it examines what it means to be human, in every good and awful sense. Thomas Buergenthal remembers and renders the small mysteries and grand passions of childhood, even a childhood lived under the most horrific circumstances." ―National Bestselling Author Elizabeth McCracken