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Holocaust survivor writes memoir about Oskar Schindler

Leon Leyson, who was 13 when Schindler took him from a ghetto in Poland, will have his memoir 'The Boy On the Wooden Box' published this August.

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Universal City/AP
The Steven Spielberg film 'Schindler's List' portrayed the efforts of business owner Oskar Schindler to save Jewish workers from the concentration camps. Actor Ralph Fiennes (r.) was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of sadistic SS officer Amon Goeth.
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

A Holocaust survivor who was rescued by Oskar Schindler as a teen has written a memoir about his experiences.

Leon Leyson died this January after sending his manuscript, titled “The Boy On the Wooden Box,” to the publisher Atheneum. Leyson was 13 when he was taken from a ghetto in Poland by Schindler and lived in the US after World War II, speaking across the US at different times about his experiences.

“The Boy On the Wooden Box, will be released Aug. 27, according to Atheneum. The publisher said the book will give an “unprecedented perspective” on Schindler.

The story of Schindler became famous through Steven Spielberg’s 1993 film “Schindler’s List,” which won an Oscar for Best Picture and is now often cited as one of the best films of all time. Actor Liam Neeson portrayed Schindler, a business owner who employed more than a thousand Jewish workers in his factories, located in the Czech Republic and Poland, to save the workers from the Holocaust.

The movie itself was based on a novel titled "Schindler's Ark," released as "Schindler's List" in America, which was written by Australian author Thomas Keneally and released in 1982. The novel won the Booker Prize in 1982. Keneally wrote the book after hearing the stories of Leopold "Poldek" Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor from Poland who was a worker in one of Schindler's factories.

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