"It's all a game!": The real story of a boy who secretly lived in the Buchenwald concentration camp

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

In 1997, a film directed by Roberto Benigni was released "Life is Beautiful" … The film, which tells about the terrible fate of the Jewish family during the Second World War, probably did not leave anyone indifferent who watched it. According to the script, the father, getting into the concentration camp, miraculously saves his 5-year-old son, secretly carrying him with him. He explains to the boy that all this is a game. If the son fulfills all his conditions (he will not cry, ask for food), then he will receive a prize at the end - a tank. When the director of the film started shooting, he could not even think that this story took place in reality.

Jozef Janek Schleifstein was born on March 7, 1941 in the family of Israel and Esther Schleifstein in the Jewish ghetto in the vicinity of the city of Sandomierz (Poland). When in June 1942 people from the ghetto were evacuated to Czestochowa to work at the HASAG metalwork and weapons factory, Janek was only a year old. Upon arrival, all the young children were immediately taken away as "useless for work" and sent to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The Schleifstein family managed to hide their son in the basement.

As many as 1, 5 years, Jozef spent in a dark room. He saw glimpses of light only when his parents came down to feed him. The boy's only friend was a cat that caught mice and rats so that they would not bite the child.

In 1943, Jews from Czestochowa were sent to Buchenwald … The father turned everything that happened into a game for the child. He promised to give his son three lumps of sugar if he did not make a sound under any circumstances. Jozef really wanted sweets, and he agreed. The father put the 2.5-year-old child in a shoulder bag, made holes for air to enter and began to pray that Józef would not move.

On arrival in Buchenwald, the elderly and children were shot on the same day. Jozef's mother was sent to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The father managed to carry his son to the camp, but did not know where to hide him further. The Germans from among the anti-fascists helped. Bread and rainwater were brought to the boy. Józef never spoke loudly, but only in a whisper. He never cried. The father continued to tell his son that all this is just a game, that you need to hide from the guards, otherwise they will be taken to the evil witch.

But the child was nevertheless found during the next search of the barracks. The boy was definitely born under a lucky star, otherwise how can one explain the fact that he was not killed. The guard had a son of the same age, and he was filled with sympathy for Józef. The boy was named "Buchelwald's mascot." Every morning at the check, he saluted, reporting that all the prisoners were counted.

If officials appeared in the concentration camp, the boy was hidden again. Together with him, about 20 small children were hiding in Buchenwald. Among them was 4-year-old Stefan Zweig - the future famous Polish cameraman (not to be confused with the writer). He was hiding in the typhus ward. The Germans did not check that place, because they were afraid to get infected. Miraculously, the child managed not to get sick and survive until the liberation of Buchenwald.

In February 1945, when only a few months remained until the end of the war, Józef inadvertently went out into the courtyard, where he was noticed by the deputy head of the camp. He ordered to immediately send the child to the gas chamber. Jozef's father threw himself on his knees and begged for a couple of days to say goodbye to his son, promising in return to make the SS man (an avid rider) the best saddle for his horse. And again, Jozef was incredibly lucky: that German was transferred to the Eastern Front. Schleifstein sent his son to the hospital, where he hid until April 11, 1945, the day of the liberation of the Buchenwald prisoners.

When the war came to an end, Israel Schleifstein managed to find his wife Esther. She survived and was in Dachau. In 1947, Jozef Janek Schleifstein became the youngest witness to testify in the Buchenwald guards case. In 1948, the family moved to the United States.

For almost half a century, Józef did not tell anyone about what he had to endure as a child. After the release of Roberto Benigni's film in 1997, records of Schleifstein were discovered in the United States Archives. Literally a month later, Janek was found by journalists. He agreed to give the only interview, because even after 50 years it is difficult for him to remember the details of his stay in a concentration camp. The man said that he sleeps all his life with the lights on, because he cannot stand the darkness after months in the basement and in the hiding places of the barracks. Today Jozef Janek Schleifstein (or in the American way, Joseph Schleifstein) is 76 years old. He is now retired and lives in New York.

When the Nazis realized that the liberation of the concentration camp by the allies was near, they equipped "Train of death" - a train that was supposed to transport Buchenwald prisoners to Dachau. Some prisoners died on the way, but many of those who made it to that terrible place managed to survive - they were freed by units of the 45th Infantry Division of the 7th American Army.