Tin Solider in a
Cardboard Box
Yad Vashem Publications' new release, Tin Solider in a Cardboard Box,
by Ari Livne is a coming-of-age story that reflects great pain, but also
optimism as to the human ability to survive.
Born in
Vienna, Henri's (Ari Livne) life changed irrevocably when he was eight years
old. After escaping with his parents to Belgium and several years of avoiding
arrest, Henri was taken in by "Aunt Angele" a local woman living in
Nazi-occupied Brussels. Henri adopted a false identity as a French-speaking
Christian boy. His knack of staying calm under pressure, his acting abilities
and his improvisation skills helped him escape from near-fatal traps time and
again. With psychological depth and unrelenting tension, the complex
relationship between the author's adopted and real identities comes to the fore
in the descriptions of his daily fight for survival.
In times of
suspected danger, Henri would hide in a camouflaged dugout in Aunt Angele's
garden. During the hours spent there, he relied on his vivid imagination and
daydreaming to transport himself to a world of fantasy where he could invite
the people of his choice, for instance, his parents or other family members,
and hold long conversations with them.
In Tin Solider in a Cardboard Box, Ari Livne has reconstructed
his childhood feelings to create a young hero in a world gone insane. With
psychological depth and unrelenting tension, the complex relationship between
his adopted identity and who he really was is described during the daily fight
for survival.
Excerpt from book:
"Since the single room in which we lived in had no space for more
than two beds, a closet and a small table, it was impossible to move about and
play. I remember lying on my bed most of the time and playing with the only
toys I possessed in those years, a tin soldier and a small box made of some
kind of corrugated material, possibly cardboard, both painted green. The box
served as barracks, a bed for the soldier, a house and a training facility and
I played with those two article for hours, for entire days…But, at some stage,
I decided to stop playing with the tin solider and box. I made do with just my
imagination, without having to hold anything in my hands. Everything now took
place inside my head and I spent long hours in bed, daydreaming. I imagined
myself playing with toys - a different toy every time - and I really enjoyed
it."
Ari Livne lives with his family in Israel and has been a civil servant
for most of his career.
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