The Boy on the Wooden Box: Chapters 2–3

by Leon Leyson
In this memoir, Leyson details how he and his family survived the Holocaust with the help of Oskar Schindler.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Prologue–Chapter 1, Chapters 2–3, Chapters 4–6, Chapters 7–8, Chapter 9–Epilogue
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. misgiving
    uneasiness about the fitness of an action
    So it was with excitement and not a hint of misgiving that I waved good-bye to my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, ready to begin a new life.
  2. consolidate
    bring together into a single whole or system
    Since coming to power in 1933, Hitler and the Nazis wasted no time in consolidating control, silencing their opponents, and beginning the campaign to reestablish Germany as a dominant world power.
  3. marginalize
    relegate to a lower or outer edge, as of groups of people
    A central part of Hitler's plan was to marginalize Jews, to make us "the other."
  4. annex
    take territory as if by conquest
    When Germany annexed Austria in March of 1938 and occupied the Sudentenland area of Czechoslovakia six months later, discrimination against Jews increased there as well.
  5. precarious
    not secure; beset with difficulties
    New restrictions made life for Jews in these areas more and more precarious.
  6. languish
    experience prolonged suffering in an unpleasant situation or place
    Reports reached us that these Polish Jews were languishing on the border in a squalid no-man's-land of temporary camps.
  7. squalid
    foul and run-down and repulsive
    Reports reached us that these Polish Jews were languishing on the border in a squalid no-man's-land of temporary camps.
  8. fervent
    characterized by intense emotion
    It had been our fervent hope that somehow the Nazis would come to their senses and the persecution would stop.
  9. tumultuous
    characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordination
    In this tumultuous time I grew ever closer to my brother Tsalig.
  10. exodus
    a journey by a large group to escape from a hostile environment
    Since my father and Hershel were the most likely ones to be taken, they decided to join the exodus and head back to Narewka.
  11. foreboding
    ominously prophetic
    In the foreboding silence, I followed my usual path to the river.
  12. impunity
    exemption from punishment or loss
    The German soldiers acted with impunity. One could never predict what they would do next.
  13. liaison
    a means of communication between groups
    The new owner made my father the official liaison, akin to a translator, between himself and the Christian Poles still allowed to work.
  14. pillage
    steal goods; take as spoils
    The Poles who had pillaged our neighbors' apartment had tipped them off, telling them that we were Jews and that my father had refused to hand over the key.
  15. ideology
    an orientation that characterizes the thinking of a group
    I guess they really didn't take a close look at our modest apartment. They just followed their racist ideology that all Jews hoarded wealth.
Created on Mon Oct 14 21:09:02 EDT 2019 (updated Wed Jun 25 18:25:24 EDT 2025)

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