I Have Lived a Thousand Years

Growing Up in the Holocaust

Livia Bitton-Jackson

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
• eBook ISBN:
  9781439106617
• Year: 2011

A Holocaust survivor recalls the terrible upheaval her family faced under Nazi occupation in this remarkable memoir that presents a story of cruelty and suffering, but also of hope, faith, perseverance, and love.

What is death all about? What is life all about?

So wonders thirteen-year-old Elli Friedmann as she fights for her life in a Nazi concentration camp. It wasn’t long ago that Elli led a normal life that included family, friends, school, and thoughts about boys. A life in which Elli could daydream for hours that she was a beautiful and elegant celebrated poet.

But these adolescent daydreams quickly darken in March 1944, when the Nazis invade Hungary. First Elli can no longer attend school, have possessions, or talk to her neighbors. Then she and her family are forced to leave their house behind to move into a crowded ghetto, where privacy becomes a luxury of the past and food becomes a scarcity.

Her strong will and faith allow Elli to manage and adjust, but what she doesn’t know is that this is only the beginning. The worst is yet to come…

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• 1. The City of My Dreams
• 2. “Hey, Jew Girl, Jew Girl…”
• 3. The Tale of the Yellow Bicycle
• 4. The Tale of the Yellow Star
• 5. Farewell, Old Mr. Stern
• 6. The Ghetto
• 7. A Miracle
• 8. Daddy, How Could You Leave Me?
• 9. Can I Keep My Poems Please?
• 10. Aunt Serena
• 11. Oh, God, I Don’t Want to Die!
• 12. Auschwitz
• 13. Arbeit Macht Frei
• 14. Born in the Showers
• 15. The Riot
• 16. Teen Vanity
• 17. The Dawn of New Hope
• 18. “Mommy, There’s a Worm in Your Soup!”
• 19. Alien Heroes
• 20. The Uprising
• 21. Hitler Is Not Dead
• 22. Tattoo
• 23. The Broken Bed
• 24. Is It True About the Smoke?
• 25. The Selection
• 26. The Transport
• 27. A Handkerchief
• 28. This Must Be Heaven
• 29. Herr Zerkübel
• 30. Leah Kohn, Forgive Me…
• 31. The Bowl of Soup
• 32. The Bird of Gold
• 33. An Echo in the Fog
• 34. To Face the World
• 35. The Lost Game
• 36. It’s an American Plane!
• 37. Freedom, at Last
• 38. Homecoming
• 39. “America, Will You Be My Home?”
• 40. The Statue of Liberty
• Appendix A
• Appendix B
• Glossary of Terms
• About the Author
• Copyright