Customer Reviews

This Child Died Tomorrow

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In the Spring of 1941, a cancer was spreading all over Europe. The (...) plague also came to Greece. Death followed their path. Twelve year old Nestor Matsas, a Greek-Jewish boy, wrote this diary after his father was murdered in a concentration camp. Now, twelve-year old Jason Rigas has translated this remarkable work, an astonishing feat in itself, gifting the world with a masterpiece that is infused with strength and wonderment. One cannot help but be struck by the incredible strength of young Nestor as he comes to grips with his father's loss; to comprehend the incomprehensible. "Can you kill a bird in a drawing"? wondered young Nestor, as he asked tougher and tougher questions of life. Amidst the destruction, young Nestor matures, an incredible sense of strength emerges that guides him to write with clarity and sensitivity. This same sensitivity is displayed by young Jason. The rendering to English of a deeply personal diary is exilarating. This is a monumental work of translation.
I could not put this book down. I read it twice. Once on the train to work, religiously every morning and then back. Another time in a quiet corner at the local Borders Cafe. I sincerely hope that it will be widely read.

THIS IS AN ASTONISHING BOOK. Written during the German occupation of Greece during WW II by a 12-year-old Jewish boy in hiding from a barbarian force, it conveys with amazing clarity both the horror of war and the invincible hope of the human spirit that so often prevails in the inexorable struggle between Good and Evil. Offered in English translation by a 12-year-old American boy, who also wrote a scholarly introduction and historical background, this book also reveals that even in the 21st century 12-year-olds are capable of amazing spiritual feats, because, in final analysis, this is what this book is.

I recommend it to anyone who is interested in a neglected part of the holocaust, that of southern Europe and/or in Jewish history in general; and, above all, to anyone with a heart who can appreciate the striking contrast between the tenderness and innocence of childhood juxtaposed to the brutality of war. None of those I know read the chapter on the death of a Greek boy (Fondas) without a cathartic tear. Reading it, has been quite an experience!