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An Analysis Of Tomi's Belsen

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I was a boy in Belsen by Tomi Reichental is a story that invokes an incredible range of emotions in one’s self and makes us question the nature of humans. The book written by Tomi, to paint a picture of an era in history that shook the world asks to be read, it is a must. This is an inspirational story of courage, bravery and ones determination to survive against all odds. In this book we as readers are transported through time With Tomi, he draws us into his unbelievable and incredible story, he takes us from childhood, Bergen-Belsen, his adulthood life, the move to the Homeland of Jews, Israel, how he ended up in Ireland and even his relationships, which gives us an all-round view from an Inside perspective on Tomi’s journey.
The book is …show more content…

Tomi as a child was confused as to why people would throw away toys such as this , only to come to the horrific conclusion that these dolls were in fact dead infants, discarded amongst human waste. Tomi ‘in the early days used to wonder about the dolls in the latrines, their naked glazed limbs and empty staring eyes’ , he was bewildered by such wanton carelessness, then realising the truth of these so called dolls, can be seen as Tomi losing his childhood innocence in Belsen, tearing away at him bit by bit, Tomi had to become grown up quite quickly. He also explains how parents tried to hide the truth behind the endings in the gas chambers in Belsen , parents worked hard to shield their children from the horrific truth while trying to be brave themselves, he portrays the courage of these Jewish people in a light we as readers don’t always get to see. Seeing the events of Belsen through a child’s mind allows for readers to mourn not only the losses amongst the camp but also the loss of a …show more content…

Moving to Israel before the red wave of communism took over his home country of Slovakia, he grew up having many jobs and trades throughout his life, starting a family and eventually accepting a job in Ireland. Tomi never let the Nazi cruelty he and his family endured break his spirit. What is good about this book is the fact, as Tomi explains even with this war era over , people attitudes towards Jews did not change immediately , many still had prejudice against the Jews and those who tried to return for their family possessions could be killed. As a reader it can be clearly seen that even though the German people were involved in these massacres of the Jews, Tomi does not hate average German people, he bears no ill will to them for what has happened to him and his family, though he does find it strange that some claim to never have known about the camps ‘we didn’t know anything about the camps, we had no idea……. Could they really know nothing that was done on their behalf? How is that possible? ‘ . Tomi has a forgiving nature and does learn to move on from the tragedies that have occurred to him, his forgiveness allows for him to carry on in life, this is an example that many people could look upon, such bravery and courage despite horrendous circumstances, and it is truly something

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