The Happiest Man on Earth

In 2020 Eddie Jaku (Abraham Salomon Jakubowicz) wrote his memoir, The Happiest Man on Earth. Born in Leipzig in 1920, his family were proud Germans, although his father was originally an immigrant from Poland. They were also Jewish. All that changed when Hitler and his followers came to power in 1933. 

Eddie's father decided that Eddie would make a good engineer but he was unable to study in Leipzig as it was known that his family was Jewish. His father therefore had identity papers forged providing Eddie with a new start as Walter Schleif and allowing him to attend the Jeter und Shearer mechanical engineering college in Tuttlingen. He studied there for five years and in 1938 graduated as the top apprentice of the year from the school.

Eddie missed his parents and decided to visit them on their twentieth wedding anniversary. He arrived to discover the house was empty. The family was hiding as they had been warned that trouble was brewing for local Jews. Eddie woke in the morning to discover that his family home was invaded by ten Nazis who dragged him from the bed and beat him. This invasion of Jewish homes plus attacks on Jewish people became known as Kristallnacht. Eddie and other survivors were taken to Buchenwald, a concentration camp. This was the beginning of Eddie's endurance during the next seven years. 

Throughout the book Eddie addresses the reader as his friend as he recalls his frightening and powerful story. Eddie was luckier than some for, as a trained mechanical engineer, his skills were required by the Germans for the war effort. However his treatment by many of the Germans was horrific.

This is a story of survival. For Eddie it is also a story about the importance of friendship, love, hope and family, the importance of laughter and of education plus the determination to never give up no matter how hard the situation may be. 

After the war Eddie returned to Belgium which had earlier rejected him as he was a German, even though he had stressed that he was being persecuted as a Jew. He was granted work because of his skills but had to reapply every six months to stay in the country. Eventually he and his wife and child were able to travel to Australia where they lived and worked for seventy years.

For many years Eddie refused to talk to family members about his life during the war but eventually agreed to talk to small, and then larger, groups of people. In 1972 twenty holocaust survivors met in Sydney. Ten years later the group became the Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and eventually the Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants. The Sydney Jewish Museum was established allowing people to tell their stories.

Not all survivors can come to terms with the atrocities committed against the Jews during the Second World War. But on page 173 Eddie stresses that "I have been lucky enough and had enough love and friendship in my life that I have been able to release the anger I felt towards them (the Nazis). It does no good to hold on to anger. Anger leads to fear, which leads to hate, which leads to death."

Eddie's story is a positive story that we can all learn from. He concluded his talks with this advice:

"May you always have lots of love to share,

Lots of good health to spare,

And lots of good friends who care."

In conclusion he writes in his book: "Please every day, remember to be happy, and to make others happy too. Make yourself a friend to the world. Do this for your new friend, Eddie."

Eddie Jaku died on 12 October, 2021, aged 101.

Remembering Eddie Jaku

The Happiest Man on Earth: 99 year old man Holocaust survivor shares his story - Youtube 

Remembering Eddie Jaku: The Happiest Man on Earth - The Project 

Remembering Eddie Jaku: Holocaust survivor - The Drum