It is estimated that more than 6 million Jewish people (as well as millions of other victims of Nazi persecution) died in the Holocaust, two-thirds of Europe's Jewish population. At Auschwitz, 1.1 million people died. As the Sydney Jewish Museum's oldest Auschwitz survivor and volunteer, Jaku has been telling his story since the museum opened in 1992. A gifted orator, he joined the speakers’ circuit, talking to students, teachers, politicians and professionals, sharing insights into his remarkable resilience. For his efforts he was this year named a finalist in the 2020 Senior Australian of the Year awards.

Last year, at 99, he gave a TEDx talk that was met with a resounding standing ovation from the 6000-plus crowd at Sydney’s International Convention Centre. The idea for his book came from the rough outline of that speech, and all the talks he’s given over the years.

The memoir is told in the vein of Anh Do's The Happiest Refugee. His narrative is woven together like one of Aesop’s fables, with a moral enlightening even the darkest chapters. They are life lessons such as: hug your mother, tell her how much you love her, shared sorrow is half sorrow, shared pleasure is double pleasure, and love is the best medicine.

His optimism has a special resonance in this era of containment. COVID-19 may have quashed his plans to have a 100th birthday party at Point Piper Yacht Club in April, but now his legacy lives in a book that is bound to be a bestseller.