Only occasionally does a book come along that I can recommend to everyone I meet. This is one of those books. Probably one of the last Holocaust memoirs to be published, it was written by the youngest person on Oskar Schindler’s famous list.

Leon was only nine years old in 1939 and when the Nazis invaded Poland. His family endured numerous hardships, including forced removal from their home and near starvation, before a chance errand led his father to a job in Oskar Schindler’s factory. Although Leon was initially terrified of Schindler, he gave jobs to the whole family (Leon was so small he had to stand on a wooden box to perform his work), rescuing them from certain death in concentration camps.

Written from the perspective of Leon as a child, the story perfectly captures the innocence of this small boy and his terrible circumstances with simple, heartfelt prose. But this is not just a children’s book. Like The Diary of Anne Frank, it is a profound story suitable for a family or students to read and discuss together. It is an important memoir that is both heartbreaking and inspiring, one I feel certain you will never forget.

Angela Crocombe