The Boy On The Wooden Box

In this chapter, Leyson emphasizes the ways Jews quietly engaged in Passive Resistance in the Face of Oppression, finding small ways to reclaim their joy and independence even though nearly every aspect of their lives had been tainted by the Nazis’ hatred. A prime example of this dynamic involves Leon learning to ride a bicycle that his neighbor lent him and discovering an exhilaration that lifted him out of his present misery. As he admits, “For those few seconds I was not a prisoner in a Nazi ghetto, trapped behind high walls, but a twelve-year-old boy like any other, relishing the mix of danger and excitement” (86). By juxtaposing grave violence and injustice with these vanishingly brief moments of simple pleasure, Leyson creates a realistic and nuanced depiction of his family’s day-to-day struggle to survive and to maintain their inner equilibrium in some form.

Notably, their act of Drawing Strength from Family Loyalty extended to the broader network of their friends and neighbors. Faced with the grim realities of this new existence, Moshe displayed a stoic, hardened attitude to the events around him, in contrast to the cheerful and optimistic nature of Mr. Luftig, who developed a particular rapport with the young Leon. Leyson derives symbolic meaning from Mr. Luftig’s set of pipes, which suggest the man’s determination to maintain a civilized way of life amid the squalid conditions of the ghetto. Thus, just like Leon, Mr. Luftig found small sources of solace amid the Jewish population’s oppression and suffering. 

These descriptions are also designed to create a stronger sense of the many people who lost their lives in the death camps, for just when Leyson has indicated his affection for certain members of his family and community, such as Mr. Luftig and Tsalig, he describes the moments in which these people were ripped away from him—never to be seen again. Up until this point, Polish Jews had been forced to live in the moment, preoccupying themselves with the simple yet crucial acts of survival, such as finding food and keeping themselves safe. Leyson implies that this mindset prevented them from thinking ahead in the event of a catastrophe. For this reason, the Nazis’ seizure of Tsalig came as a devastating shock, and the narrative implies that this occurrence might have been prevented if Tsalig had had a work permit. After this point, many people would step up bravely and speak out in an effort to change their future. In this chapter, for example, Moshe “summons the courage” to ask Schindler to hire David in the factory (89); Schindler agreed, which would save David from deportation. Leyson therefore uses these details to emphasize the far-reaching impact of small acts of courage, as well as The Importance of Kindness in Dark Times.