The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor

Eddie Jaku is the author and first-person narrator of the memoir The Happiest Man on Earth, who lived under Nazi rule for 12 years (1933-1945), from age 13 to 25. Eddie was born into a warm extended family in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920, and soon revealed a strong aptitude for mechanical engineering. His father, determined to send him to one of the best schools in this field, created a false identity for him to hide the fact that he was Jewish. Eddie, a proud German, was deeply disillusioned by the antisemitic hysteria that began to sweep through his country in the early 1930s. He survived years of captivity in Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and other camps and prisons, and after WWII went on to build a successful career and family life in Australia.

Though he excelled in his studies, Eddie found the five-year separation from his family to be extremely difficult. However, he now treasures the knowledge and work ethic he acquired, as they proved crucial to his survival over the next seven years. Aside from his technical skills and knowledge, which won him the protected status of “Economically Indispensable Jew” at Auschwitz (See: Index of Terms), Eddie showed remarkable ingenuity and courage in his day-to-day survival and in his escapes from Nazi custody, such as when he pried open the floor of a train compartment with a small screwdriver, or used a couple of barrel lids to protect himself from Nazi gunfire while hiding in a culvert.