The Happiest Man on Earth: The Beautiful Life of an Auschwitz Survivor

In Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, medical practice took on a grotesque new meaning and form. What inverted roles did these medical institutions and practices play in the Holocaust, and how did prisoners learn to evade them? What does the Holocaust teach us about the uses and misuses of science? 

One of the dominant motifs of Eddie Jaku’s memoir is betrayal, whether by individuals or nations. What forms does betrayal take in the memoir? How does it contrast with Eddie’s experiences of loyalty? 

The memoir raises important questions about complicity and culpability, as Eddie recounts with horror how ordinary Germans turned against their Jewish neighbors and friends. How does the memoir grapple with these issues? What does the memoir suggest about individual responsibility and integrity? 

Examine the depiction of both familial ties and friendship in the memoir. What is the significance of these interpersonal bonds? How do Eddie’s ideas about family and friendship develop over the course of the memoir?

In what ways was mental/emotional discipline just as important (if not more so) to survival as physical stamina for Eddie and other survivors? What is the significance of hope in the memoir? 

Eddie speaks frequently of the importance of kindness and unity in the memoir. What forms do kindness and unity take in Eddie’s own experiences? How and why do they offer effective resistance against hatred and violence?

Eddie grapples with survivor syndrome, and it takes many years before he feels able to speak out about his experiences. What role do memory and bearing witness have in Eddie’s experiences? What lessons can we learn from the testimony of Holocaust survivors like Eddie? 

How does Eddie’s postwar life, especially in Australia, illustrate his view that being happy is “the best revenge”?