I Have Lived a Thousand Years

Holocaust survivor Livia Bitton-Jackson (b. Elli L. Friedmann on February 28, 1931) is the author of three memoirs: I Have Lived a Thousand Years, My Bridges of Hope, and Hello, America. She was born in Šamorin, Czechoslovakia. Hungarian troops occupied her hometown, renaming it Somorja, in 1938. In 1944, German troops occupied Hungary and deported Hungarian Jews to concentration camps. Among the deportees were Bitton-Jackson; her parents, Markus and Laura; and her brother, Bubi. After the war, Bitton-Jackson immigrated to the United States and earned a Ph.D. from New York University in Hebrew Culture and Jewish History. 

I Have Lived a Thousand Years received a Christopher Award, presented to writers, producers and directors that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.” The book chronicles Bitton-Jackson’s experiences before and during the Holocaust, from the days leading up to the German occupation through her liberation by American troops. Fifty years later, Bitton-Jackson returns to Germany for a Holocaust remembrance ceremony. Her message to future generations is to fight intolerance and prejudice and never give up.

Bitton-Jackson’s story begins in 1943, when she is twelve years old, and nurtures dreams of becoming a celebrated poet. Life in her small farming community revolves around the Danube River.