1장
A Century of Darkness, A Lifetime of Light
In the pages of "The Happiest Man on Earth," we encounter an extraordinary paradox: a Holocaust survivor who endured unimaginable horrors yet emerged with his humanity not just intact, but luminous. Eddie Jaku's memoir, published as he turned 100 years old, has resonated deeply with readers worldwide, becoming an international bestseller translated into over 30 languages. This unlikely centenarian, with his gentle smile and unforgettable mantra-"Happiness is something we can choose"-offers wisdom that transcends his personal tragedy to touch universal human experience.
The book has garnered praise from world leaders and celebrities alike, with Oprah Winfrey calling it "one of the most important memoirs of our time" and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledging it as "a necessary reminder of both humanity's capacity for evil and its potential for goodness." What makes this slim volume so powerful is not just the historical witness it bears, but the radical philosophy it proposes: that even after witnessing the darkest depths of human cruelty, one can choose happiness as an act of resistance and redemption.
2장
From German Patriot to Concentration Camp Prisoner
Eddie Jaku was born Abraham Salomon Jakubowicz in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920, into a loving middle-class Jewish family. His father Isidore, a Polish immigrant and skilled mechanic, instilled in young Eddie values that would later prove crucial to his survival: "There are many things more precious than money," he would say, demonstrating this principle by taking extra challah bread to synagogue for those in need.
The Jakubowicz family considered themselves Germans first, Jews second-proud citizens of a country with a rich cultural heritage. This identity was violently shattered when Hitler rose to power in 1933. Anti-Semitism, which had always existed in German society, became institutionalized policy. Eddie was expelled from high school simply for being Jewish, forcing his father to secure false papers under the name "Walter Schleif" so his son could attend a prestigious mechanical engineering college in Tuttlingen.
At just thirteen, Eddie began living a double life-outwardly as Walter, a German student, while hiding his Jewish identity. For five lonely years, he lived in constant fear of discovery, unable to confide in anyone. He took extraordinary precautions, including hiding his circumcision during communal showers. Contact with his family was rare and dangerous, limited to secretive phone calls made from department store basements. Despite this isolation, Eddie excelled academically, graduating as top apprentice and being invited to join the prestigious Precision Engineering Union.
The facade of normalcy collapsed on November 9, 1938-Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. Having returned home to surprise his parents on their wedding anniversary, Eddie was alone when Nazi storm troopers broke in at dawn. They beat him savagely and began carving a swastika into his arm. When his dachshund Lulu tried to protect him, they bayoneted the dog to death for being a "Jewish dog." Most devastating was seeing ordinary citizens-neighbors and friends-joining the violence against Jews throughout the city.
"How could civilized people become murderers overnight?" Eddie asks. His answer reveals profound insight: "These weren't just Nazi soldiers but everyday Germans whose weakness allowed them to be manipulated into hatred." This understanding-that evil often stems from weakness rather than inherent malice-would later inform Eddie's remarkable capacity for forgiveness.
3장
Surviving the Unsurvivable
Eddie's journey through the Holocaust reads like a catalog of twentieth-century horrors. First imprisoned in Buchenwald concentration camp, he witnessed the transformation of Germany into a place "stripped of morals, respect, and human decency." The camp was nicknamed the "Singing Forest" for the screams of tortured prisoners that echoed through the surrounding beech trees. Conditions were inhuman: 1,200 Czech men crammed into stables meant for 80 horses, sleeping five to a bunk, with one bowl of rice and meat as their daily meal.
Through an extraordinary stroke of luck, Eddie encountered Helmut Hoer, a former acquaintance who had become an SS guard. When Eddie revealed his true identity, Hoer vouched for him as a toolmaker to the camp commander. The Nazis needed skilled workers for their war machine, and Eddie was released with his father in May 1939 after six months in Buchenwald.
Rather than reporting to the factory where he was assigned, Eddie and his father attempted to escape Germany. At the Belgian border, they paid a smuggler to guide them across. In a heart-wrenching moment, Eddie's father stayed behind to help a woman up an embankment and was caught in a searchlight while Eddie made it to safety. Though they later reunited in Brussels, Eddie's mother and sister were arrested when the Gestapo set a trap for the family.
Eddie's freedom was short-lived. Arrested in Belgium as an illegal German immigrant, he was sent to a refugee camp. When Germany invaded Belgium in 1940, he began a harrowing journey on foot to southern France, experiencing extraordinary kindness from French villagers who shared their meager food despite the risk of helping a Jew. Eventually captured and sent to Gurs concentration camp, Eddie later escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz by loosening floorboards and dropping onto the tracks with eight other prisoners.
Returning to Brussels, he found his parents in hiding and enjoyed precious months together before Belgian police raided their apartment. Reunited briefly at Gestapo headquarters, the family was transported to Auschwitz in February 1944. Upon arrival, Eddie saw the infamous iron sign "Arbeit macht frei"-work sets you free. In the selection process conducted by Dr. Josef Mengele, Eddie was sent to work while his parents were sent directly to the gas chambers.
"I became an orphan without even saying goodbye," Eddie writes. "To this day, I dream of my mother, longing to see her smile just once more."
4장
The Power of Friendship in Hell
At Auschwitz, Eddie became prisoner number 172338, stripped of his name and identity. Survival was never guaranteed in this death camp where prisoners slept ten to a row on hard wooden planks, naked in temperatures eight below zero, huddling together for warmth. Every night, ten to twenty people froze to death on the edges of these human piles.
In this environment of extreme deprivation, Eddie discovered the most important lesson of his life: "The greatest thing you can experience is being loved by another person. Without friendship, a human being is lost." His friendship with Kurt Hirschfeld, whom he had met at Buchenwald and miraculously encountered again at Auschwitz, became his lifeline.
The two men developed survival strategies together. Kurt had cleverly claimed to be a shoemaker when asked his profession, allowing him to work indoors making shoes rather than marching to factories. Indoor workers received better food, which Kurt would share with Eddie. In turn, Eddie used his mechanical skills to fashion knives from discarded hacksaws, which he sold to other prisoners and civilian workers for food, soap, or clothing.
"The average survival time at Auschwitz was seven months," Eddie notes. "Without Kurt, I wouldn't have lasted half that long." Many prisoners chose suicide by touching the electrified fence-"going to the wire"-rather than continue suffering. On his darkest days, Eddie considered this option, but Kurt refused to let him give up.
Their mutual support extended to life-saving interventions. When Eddie fell ill with jaundice, Kurt risked his life bringing him soup through a blizzard, only to be caught and beaten by an SS guard who burned his face with the hot soup. When Eddie's sister developed gangrene from standing in freezing water all day at her work station, Kurt helped secure medicine for her.
This experience of mutual care amidst systematic dehumanization shaped Eddie's philosophy: "I survived Auschwitz because I owed it to Kurt to live another day so we might see each other again. One good friend can be your entire world. The best balm for the soul is friendship."
5장
Education as Salvation
Eddie's father had always emphasized the importance of education and practical skills, drilling into his children that knowledge was the one possession that could never be stolen. This paternal wisdom proved prophetically life-saving in Auschwitz, where Eddie's mechanical engineering expertise earned him classification as an "Economically Indispensable Jew." This coveted designation saved his life three separate times when he was pulled from gas chamber lines just 20 meters from death, as SS officers recognized his value to their industrial operations.
As foreman of an IG Farben workshop, Eddie shouldered the immense responsibility of maintaining high-pressure air pipes running machines producing German army supplies. He wore a sign around his neck warning he would be hanged if any pipes leaked - a constant reminder of the lethal consequences of failure. To monitor 200 machines simultaneously, he devised an innovative system, fashioning distinctive whistles for each worker to alert him to pressure drops. Each whistle had a unique pitch, allowing him to identify problems instantly. His ingenuity and technical prowess ensured that in the year he worked there, no machine ever broke down - an achievement that both impressed and served his captors.
Later, Eddie's expertise expanded beyond industrial machinery when he was recognized for his knowledge of specialized medical equipment. He was assigned to manufacture operating tables for neurosurgery under Professor Neubert, a high-ranking SS officer and neurosurgeon. This role required precise calculations and meticulous attention to detail, as these tables needed to accommodate complex brain surgeries. These assignments, while still within the brutal concentration camp system, provided slightly better conditions that contributed to his survival, including additional food rations and indoor work away from the harsh elements.
"My father's insistence on education and practical skills had saved my life yet again," Eddie reflects. "As he always stressed, education is truly a lifesaver - not just in normal circumstances, but especially in times of crisis when survival depends on making yourself valuable."
The human body itself became a subject of Eddie's engineering-trained observation during his imprisonment. Despite enduring starvation, routine beatings, freezing temperatures, and untreated wounds, he marveled at the body's extraordinary resilience and adaptive capabilities. "As a precision engineer, I know no machine compares to the human body's ability to repair itself and sustain life," he writes. "Even the most sophisticated machinery requires external maintenance, but the human body continuously repairs itself under the most extreme conditions." This appreciation for the miracle of physical existence would later inform his philosophy of gratitude and his understanding of human resilience. His engineering background gave him a unique perspective on human physiology, viewing the body as the ultimate self-maintaining machine, capable of surviving conditions far beyond what any human-made device could endure.
6장
Maintaining Humanity Amid Inhumanity
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Eddie's story is not just that he survived physically, but that he maintained his moral compass in an environment designed to destroy human dignity. Despite witnessing and experiencing unimaginable cruelty, Eddie made a conscious choice not to let the Nazis destroy his humanity.
"Some prisoners became collaborators-kapos who betrayed fellow inmates for special privileges," Eddie explains. One kapo, an Austrian Jew, sent many to the gas chambers, including his own cousin, for rewards of cigarettes, schnapps, and warm clothes. When Eddie caught elderly Hungarian men warming their hands by a barrel, he offered to take their punishment, knowing he could survive it, but the kapo had them whipped and murdered instead.
Despite constant hunger and desperation, Eddie remained determined to maintain his moral principles. When someone stole his bread ration, he refused to become a thief himself. "In Auschwitz, it was survival of the fittest, but I never stole another's food or hurt fellow prisoners. I knew survival would be meaningless if I became evil to achieve it."
This moral clarity extended to his understanding of the perpetrators. Eddie observed that under the Nazi regime, German men weren't inherently evil but weak and easily manipulated. "They gradually lost their morals and humanity, becoming capable of unspeakable cruelty while still returning home to their families."
Yet Eddie also recognized that not all Germans participated in evil. Some secretly helped prisoners at great personal risk. Guards would leave tins of porridge and milk during his toilet breaks. A civilian food delivery man named Krauss regularly smuggled extra food to him. "These good people risked death to help Jews," Eddie notes, "as the fascist system made victims of everyone-the oppressors lived in fear just as the oppressed did."
7장
Liberation and the Choice to Live
As Allied forces approached in January 1945, the Nazis evacuated Auschwitz. During the Death March toward Germany, thousands died from freezing temperatures, exhaustion, or execution. After helping Kurt hide in a shower room ceiling at Gleiwitz, Eddie continued alone and was transported to Buchenwald in an open train wagon.
Through a series of transfers, escapes, and near-death experiences, Eddie eventually collapsed on a highway where American soldiers found him and took him to a hospital. Given only a 35% chance of survival, he made a promise: "If I lived, I would dedicate my life to repairing the damage done by the Nazis."
After recovering, Eddie returned to Brussels to search for his family. Finding their apartment empty, he believed himself the only survivor of over a hundred relatives across Europe. Many liberated prisoners took their own lives, and Eddie too questioned whether to live or die. But remembering his promise to honor his parents' memory, he chose life.
In what Eddie describes as a miracle, he reunited with Kurt, whom he had presumed dead after leaving him hiding in Gleiwitz. Kurt had been discovered by Russian soldiers just two days after Eddie left, but they treated him well once they realized he was a victim. Soon after, they discovered Eddie's sister Henni had also survived.
This unexpected joy was tempered by the realization that they could never truly feel at home in Europe again. "We were surrounded by people who had done nothing to prevent the Holocaust-possibly even collaborators," Eddie explains. When he received a box of family photos from their abandoned Leipzig home, he was struck by the painful reality that almost everyone he had ever loved was gone.
8장
Love as the Great Healer
Eddie's transformation from survivor to "the happiest man on Earth" began with love, though the path wasn't immediate or straightforward. After the war, while establishing himself professionally in Brussels, he experienced what many survivors did - a profound disconnection from life itself. He describes himself during this period as "not a happy man... just a miserable ghost married to a vivacious woman fully assimilated into Belgian society." The contrast between his internal struggles and his wife's vitality highlighted his emotional isolation.
Everything changed fundamentally when he became a father. "When I held my eldest son, Michael, for the first time, it was a miracle. My heart healed and my happiness returned." This wasn't just joy - it was redemption. In this transformative moment, Eddie made a profound commitment that would define the rest of his life: "I promised that from that day until the end of my life, I would be happy, polite, helpful and kind." This wasn't merely an emotional response but a conscious decision to choose life and happiness over trauma.
In 1950, seeking new opportunities and a fresh start, the family immigrated to Australia. Eddie initially worked as a medical instrument maker, applying the precise skills he'd developed in Europe. Later, he and his wife Flore opened Eddie's Service Station in Mascot, which began as a simple garage but grew into something more. Through hard work and dedication, they expanded into a full-service auto business, and eventually established a successful real estate agency. Their partnership was remarkable - they worked side-by-side into their nineties, their business becoming a testament to their shared resilience and vision.
Eddie found particular satisfaction in helping young families get established, seeing in them reflections of his own journey. "Our work is our contribution to society," he often reflects. "Whether you're making medical instruments, teaching, or cooking, your efforts affect people you'll never know. Every day, you can choose to uplift others or drag them down-the choice is yours to make." This philosophy transformed routine business transactions into opportunities for meaningful human connection.
Family became the cornerstone of Eddie's happiness, providing both purpose and perspective. "Nothing compares to seeing your family thrive-watching my son experience the same joy with his children that I felt with mine." His daily ritual of sitting at his coffee table, surrounded by photographs of his growing family, became a moment of daily gratitude and reflection. These pictures represented more than just memories - they were proof of life's continuity and love's triumph over darkness. "In them, I see myself, Flore, my parents-the love they gave me during their short lives." Each face in those photographs represented not just an individual, but a link in a chain of survival, resilience, and love that extended both backward to those lost and forward to generations yet to come.
9장
Bearing Witness and Choosing Happiness
For many years, Eddie shielded his children from his past. His son Michael first learned his father's story when he secretly attended a speech Eddie gave at the Great Synagogue. "I've never been able to speak to my children directly about it-when I try, I see my father in my son's face," Eddie admits.
As he aged, Eddie came to believe that this silence had been a mistake, allowing Holocaust deniers to emerge. He began speaking publicly about his experiences, addressing thousands of schoolchildren, politicians, and annually at the Australian Defence Force Academy-"especially important for those who might one day hold guns."
In 2013, Eddie received the Order of Australia Medal for services to the Jewish community. In 2019, his TEDx talk reached hundreds of thousands online, bringing letters from strangers whose lives were changed in seventeen minutes.
"I'll continue telling my story as long as I can," Eddie writes, "for those who didn't survive to tell theirs." His concern is not just historical memory but moral instruction: "Though painful, I worry what will happen when all Holocaust survivors are gone. Will our story fade? The young people with burning desire to make the world better will inherit our pain and our hope."
Eddie's ultimate message transcends his personal trauma to offer universal wisdom: "Seventy-five years ago, at the bottom of humanity, I never imagined having children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Yet here I am." His conclusion is both simple and profound: "After reading this book, please appreciate every moment of your life-good and bad, tears and laughter. If you're lucky, you'll have friends to share it all with. Every day, remember to be happy and make others happy too."
Perhaps most remarkable is Eddie's relationship with his past suffering. He doesn't deny or minimize it, but he refuses to be defined by it: "I hate no one, not even Hitler, though I cannot forgive him. To forgive would betray the six million who died. I speak for them, but I also live for them, living the best life possible."
Each year, Eddie and Flore celebrate their wedding anniversary on April 20-Hitler's birthday. "We are still here; Hitler is gone," Eddie notes with quiet triumph. "This is the best revenge-to be the happiest man on Earth."
10장
The Transformative Power of Kindness
At the heart of Eddie's philosophy is a profound belief in the healing power of kindness-both given and received. Throughout his darkest moments, small acts of kindness sustained him: the French villagers who shared their food, the Polish doctor who removed a bullet with an ivory letter opener, the German civilian who left extra portions in his machine.
After liberation, Eddie and Kurt extended this kindness to others, taking in three Jewish women who had attempted suicide after finding their families gone. "Helping these women heal taught me my father's wisdom: the fortunate must help those suffering. With simple kindness, you can save someone from despair-the greatest miracle of all."
Eddie's understanding of happiness is deeply communal: "Happiness comes from inside yourself and from the people you love. If you are healthy and happy, you are a millionaire. And happiness doubles each time you share it." This principle guided his life in Australia, where he and Flore built businesses that served their community.
For Eddie, kindness is not just a personal virtue but a social necessity. He formed a group called Focus exclusively for concentration camp survivors-"those who faced death daily, smelled the crematorium, and found nowhere safe." Through shared stories, they found a liberation that comes from being truly understood. "There's a saying: shared sorrow is half sorrow; shared pleasure is double pleasure."
Eddie observes that some survivors remain trapped in bitterness, "their bodies freed but hearts still imprisoned." While he doesn't ask fellow survivors to forgive the Germans-"I couldn't do this myself"-he has released his anger toward them. "Anger leads to fear, to hate, to death."
In his final reflections, Eddie returns to his father's wisdom: "Kindness is the greatest wealth, and small acts of kindness outlast a lifetime. This is my father's greatest lesson, keeping him forever alive." His parting words are both an invitation and a challenge: "A field is empty until you grow something. Give something, something comes back. Remember that a flower isn't just a flower-it's the start of a whole garden."
From the depths of human cruelty, Eddie Jaku extracted a philosophy of radical kindness and chosen happiness that continues to inspire readers worldwide. His story reminds us that even in our darkest moments, we retain the power to choose how we respond to suffering-and that this choice defines not just our individual lives but our collective humanity.
