Analysis Of The Lost Childhood By Yehuda Nir

Childhood is a powerful and important time for all humans. As a child, the things one sees and hears influences the choices and decisions they make in the future. “How a child develops during early and middle childhood years affects future cognitive, social, emotional, language, and physical development, which in turn influences their trust and confidence for later success in life” (Early and Middle Childhood). Yehuda Nir’s, The Lost Childhood is a first person memoir based on the life of a youthful Jewish child who survived the Holocaust. Taking place from pre-World War II 1939, to post-World War II 1945, this memoir highlights the despicable things done during one of the darkest times in modern history. Prior to being published in October

Thrown into circumstances not yet prepared for, Yehuda, his older sister Lala, and his mother, overcame many life threatening situations after Yehuda’s father was executed. Prior to the war, Nir’s father was a well-to-do business man, who provided greatly for his family. They were often seen as a true symbol of the Jewish wealth in Poland. This symbol became a target in 1939 as German, anti-Jewish, Nazi’s invaded Poland to start the beginning of World War II. “Going from a well-to-do family to refugees in the matter on a couple days was a disturbing change” (Nir 14). These changes would become the norm as the family was moved into a new apartment, sharing it with a German official. A week after the war started, a group of Nazi’s raided Jewish homes, taking Jewish men. Yehuda’s father said goodbye, naïve to what was happening. Yeahuda secretly followed the Nazi’s and watched as the hand-cuffed men, his own father and uncle among them, were shot down in the woods outside the city. Stunned, and unable to comprehend, Nir retrieved back to his home to share the news with his mother and sister. “My Mother became the backbone of the family; A role she would maintain throughout much of the war. I sensed an attitude of determination in her; an attitude that would help us to make quick decisions, decisions that our lives depended on” (Nir 12). As things got

This memoir, which sits on the library shelf, dusty and unread, gives readers a view of the reality of this brutal war. So many times World War II books give detail about the war or what went on inside the Concentration Camps, yet this book gives insight to a different side. A side where a child not only had to hide from Nazi’s in threat of being taken as a Jew, but a child who hid from the Nazi’s in plain sight, threatened every day by his identity. Yeahuda captures the image of what life was like from the inside looking out. “Many times throughout the war we felt alone and trapped. We felt abandoned by all outside help. Like we were fighting a war on our own” (Nir 186). Different from many non-fiction books, Nir uses detail to give his story a bit of mystery and adventure. Readers are faced with his true battles and are left on the edge of their