The Boy On The Wooden Box

As Leon rode on the train to Kraków, he experienced the fullness of spring and thought about his future. Leyson uses the springtime imagery to symbolize new beginnings after the war, and he contrasts the train to the cattle cars in which Jews were transported during the Holocaust, stating: 

This time the cattle cars had bunks and the sliding doors remained open. We could breathe in the smells of springtime and watch the passing countryside […] Trees sprouted new leaves; wildflowers were blooming. The scars from the war, which I felt so deeply, weren’t visible in the passing landscape (168).

However, Leyson emphasizes that, despite being free from Nazi persecution, there were still dangers and hardships in store for Polish Jews. Rioting and backlashes in Kraków recall the dark days of antisemitism before the war. For example, myths of Jewish villainy were revived, and a Jewish woman was falsely accused of kidnapping a gentile boy. A synagogue was also desecrated. Upon seeing this evidence of continued violence, Leon wondered, “Was this to be our future? Had we survived the war, the ghetto and camps, only to continue to live in dread?” (172). However, this harshness was tempered by the kindness of Wojek, the gentile who had helped Leon’s father before the war by selling his suits, and the neighbor who hosted Leon and his parents and threw a party for them.

Another bright spot of kindness came from Dr. Neu, the German man who tutored Leon at his home. Dr. Neu helped bring Leon up to speed with his education, thus preparing him for his adult life. Dr. Neu also treated Leon with respect and refused to evade the question of German responsibility in the Holocaust. The narrative indicates that Dr. Neu had similar characteristics to Schindler, suggesting that there were good and charitable Germans who did not go along with the Nazis. 

Although Leon’s family had held on to a thread of hope that Hershel and other relatives had survived, they eventually learned of the fate of Jews in Narewka and knew that their hopes had been in vain. Nevertheless, Leyson implies that Narewka was now part of the past and that they had to make their future in the “new world”; for David and Pesza, this would be the brand-new state of Israel, while Leon and his parents now had to make their way in America. 

The descriptions of the American-run Wetzlar camp create a stark contrast with the German concentration camps. Here, the residents were well-fed and cared for, and they forged new friendships and made plans for the future. Leon discussed his war experiences with other young people his age. They were having trouble processing their painful experiences, and they even felt resentful and jealous of each other for various reasons. Thus, Leyson depicts the psychological and emotional trauma of those who survived the Holocaust. 

On the train ride to California, Leon felt exhilarated by the passing landscape, which was different from anything he had ever seen. The imagery marks the change in his life as he moved to the West Coast, and the narrative glories in the “lush greens,” “dramatic reds,” and “dry desert browns” as he and his family headed toward a more optimistic future (185). Filled with the thought of his life to come, he reflected, “The future lay before me in a way that only a brief time before I would have thought impossible” (185). When he experienced the kindness of a fellow passenger who helped him count money and gave him his first English lesson, he realized that in his new home, “anything could happen” (185).