84 pages • 2-hour read
The Boy On The Wooden Box
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Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Summary
Leon arrives at the Płaszów concentration camp, which appears to him as “hell on earth” (113). He is assigned to do menial and dangerous work with a group of adult men—hauling lumber, rocks, and dirt, and later shoveling snow in freezing temperatures. He surreptitiously visits his brother David and his father. Moshe promises Leon that he will secure him a job in Schindler’s factory. Later, Leon briefly visits his mother. On one occasion, the camp’s commandant, the sadistic Amon Goeth, brutally flogs Leon and other male inmates during a work assignment.
Months later, Leon is assigned to work in the brush factory, which has been relocated from the Kraków ghetto to Płaszów. In 1944, Schindler rebuilds his Emalia factory on the grounds of the camp, and Moshe and David move there to work. Shortly afterward, Leon and Chanah are also assigned to the factory, but Leon learns that his name has been crossed off the list. While the recruits are leaving for the factory, Leon boldly approaches a Nazi guard and asks to be allowed to go to the factory along with his mother. The guard waves him on. As Leon arrives at Emalia, he wonders if his time in hell might be coming to an end.
Chapter 7 Analysis
This chapter further emphasizes The Importance of Kindness in Dark Times, for as Leon endured some of the most traumatic experiences that he would encounter during the war, he also found the prospect of improved circumstances upon gaining entrance into Emalia. Although his time in the concentration camp represents the lowest narrative point for Leon, the time of his most intense suffering, he would gradually climb out of the depths thanks to Schindler’s help. By describing these violence-infused scenes from his past, Leyson also provides intense descriptions of the dangers he sought to escape, and the flogging delivered by Amon Goeth, a notable historic figure and an avatar of Nazi cruelty, also conveys the deep danger that Jews encountered merely by existing in the camps. The trauma of this particular moment would linger in Leon’s mind long afterward.
Leon’s bold embrace of Passive Resistance in the Face of Oppression is also apparent in his decision to approach the guard in charge of the factory transfer and ask to be included in the move. This split-second action ultimately allowed Leon to save his own life, and Leyson accordingly lingers over this moment in the narrative, describing his younger self’s inner thoughts while waiting for the guard’s response to his request. The scene marks a key turning point in the narrative: a moment that made the difference between life and death. Looking back, Leyson ponders the possible reasons why the guard acquiesced to the request, wondering:
Did he take pity on me, a boy separated from his family? Did he see one of his own children in me? Was he simply being a bureaucrat who didn’t like the fact that a name had been crossed out without his official permission? There’s no way of knowing (131).
In this and other passages in the book, Leyson emphasizes the importance of empathy and compassion—seeing other people as fellow human beings with dignity. He concedes the possibility that even hardened Nazis might understand the importance of kindness in dark times.
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