I love reading books about the Holocaust and WWII, so when I came across a book titled “The Happiest Man on Earth – The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor” by Eddie Jaku, I immediately ordered it on Amazon. 

I was surprised the book was delivered the same day, within 6 hours.

Holocaust survivor Eddie Jaku vowed to smile every day and considered himself the ‘happiest man on earth’. “Life can be beautiful if you choose to make it so. The choice is yours,” he writes. 

Eddie Jaku once saw himself primarily as German, with Jewish identity as a secondary one. He took pride in his country. However, everything shifted in November 1938 when he experienced a beating, was arrested, and was sent to a concentration camp. 

Over the following seven years, Eddie experienced unimaginable horrors daily, beginning in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, and finally during a Nazi death march. 

He lost family, friends, and his country. 

The Happiest Man on Earth is a compelling, emotional, yet ultimately optimistic memoir about discovering happiness even in the darkest moments. 

I have just started reading this 196-page book, but I couldn't resist the temptation to share the lines I found at the very start of the book -

Don’t walk behind me,

I may not lead.

Don’t walk in front of me

I may not follow.

Just walk beside me and be my friend.