The Boy From Buchenwald: Chapters 13–17

by Robbie Waisman, Susan McClelland
Born Romek Wajsman in Poland's Skarżysko-Kamienna, an eighty-nine-year-old Canadian activist remembers how he survived the Holocaust, first as an eleven-year-old slave laborer in a German-occupied factory and later as a teenage prisoner in concentration camps.

Here are links to our lists for the book: Introduction–Chapter 3, Chapters 4–7, Chapters 8–12, Chapters 13–17, Chapter 18–Epilogue
40 words 5 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. vocational
    of or relating to an occupation
    Divided into small groups, sitting in semicircles on stiff, creaky wooden chairs, we boys would listen to the men and women talking about the opportunities for schooling, vocational training, and immigration to France or other countries that were available to us.
  2. pernicious
    exceedingly harmful
    The students were being taught the Catholic prayer for the pernicious Jews, “pernicious” meaning people who have a bad effect on others.
  3. conversion
    a change of religion
    Nearing Good Friday, the Christian children were asked to pray for our conversion to Christianity.
  4. malaise
    a vague sense of unease or dissatisfaction
    After class one day, Marek, suspecting my boredom or malaise, my thoughts that tumbled like weeds in a windstorm, suggested we go into Paris in search of Ralph and Communists.
  5. waft
    be driven or carried along, as by the air
    The perfumes and colognes of the women and men wafted over me: lavender and lilac that I remembered I would go out into the fields with Golda to look for.
  6. banter
    converse in a playful or teasing way
    It was the way Mama and Papa would speak to our neighbors as they passed one another on Third of May Street, the way the butcher would banter back and forth with Chaim about how big he was getting or the baker would rave about the Jewish holidays.
  7. array
    an impressive display or assortment
    A Black woman was dressed in an off-white sleeveless dress, long, with a low waist, and attached to the fabric were shimmering broaches in an array of jewels.
  8. ransack
    steal goods; take as spoils
    The Nazis, before they moved the Jewish families to the ghetto, had come to all our homes, ransacking the cupboards and taking anything of value.
  9. patron
    a regular customer
    When the overhead lights of the jazz club came on, I watched as the patrons started to pile out, making room for those wanting to catch the evening performance.
  10. concierge
    a caretaker in an apartment complex or hotel
    Behind these men was the concierge for our building, an older man who used to give my daughter butterscotch candies.
  11. jowl
    a looseness of the flesh of the lower cheek and jaw
    As I continued to look at the professor, I saw something I hadn’t before: his sagging shoulders, tired eyes, sinking jowls.
  12. maim
    injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
    At the start of the war, the soldiers seemed to shoot and shoot, not even caring whether their bullets killed, maimed, or missed.
  13. graze
    break the skin by scraping
    He shot his pistol, grazing my shoulder.
  14. waver
    move hesitatingly, as if about to give way
    As some branches over the heads of the partisans crackled and began to rain sparks down on us, the boys’ attention wavered.
  15. remnant
    a small part remaining after the main part no longer exists
    I placed my old clothes in a metal container on the property used for burning leaves and watched the fabric and whatever remnants of lice and fleas I still carried with me from Buchenwald go up in flames.
  16. lather
    form froth produced by soaps or detergents
    The first time I bathed, I used a bar of white soap, lathering up the suds on a cloth and then scrubbing every part of my body. But I was still not clean.
  17. gravitate
    move toward
    All of us boys had someone either assigned to us or an adult we gravitated toward who guided us.
  18. mirage
    something illusory and unattainable
    My heart skipped, and I blinked, thinking at first I was seeing a mirage.
  19. hue
    the quality of a color determined by its dominant wavelength
    As spring unfolded into summer’s muted golden and blue hues, I’d leave the professor after our studies to walk by the girl’s house.
  20. palette
    range of color characteristic of a painting, artist, etc.
    By the end of July, her garden was a painter’s palette of flowers in pinks, yellows, deep violets, and even blues.
  21. muster
    summon up, call forth, or bring together
    I mustered up the strength to approach her.
  22. sullen
    showing a brooding ill humor
    I suddenly felt self-conscious of my appearance: my thinness, my Jewishness, my ragged clothes and sullen, scarred face.
  23. elaborate
    marked by complexity and richness of detail
    She showed me the elaborate dome-like nests.
  24. upholstery
    covering on a piece of furniture
    The Germans, maybe even our own neighbors, people we had trusted, they came into our apartments and homes after we were sent to the Vélodrome d’Hiver or any of the holding centers the Nazis placed Jews in France. When I returned to my apartment, the furniture was upside down and the upholstery torn.
  25. palate
    the surface of the mouth separating oral and nasal cavities
    “I’ll see the faces of the partisans, right down to the moles on their cheeks and necks. I can even see one of the partisans’ cleft palate.”
  26. contort
    twist and press out of shape
    I watched his body crumple to the ground, his face twisting and contorting, until it sank and turned to slate, his eyes open, staring, unblinking and hollow.
  27. wisp
    a thin tuft, piece, or amount of something
    I remember every detail of this man’s face—the high cheekbones, the wisps of straw-blond hair that fell out beneath his helmet, his perfect white teeth.
  28. miserly
    characterized by or indicative of lack of generosity
    We each decide whether to make ourselves learned or ignorant, compassionate or cruel, generous or miserly.
  29. enact
    represent or perform as if in a play
    I wanted to tell the Germans that I enacted great battles using stones, twigs, and leaves to build my fortresses.
  30. coarse
    rough to the touch
    When the Germans came, that’s when Mama’s hands started to shake, her back started to curve, and her hair became brittle and coarse like she was aging a year for each day.
  31. lebensraum
    new territory thought to be necessary for a nation
    Chaim said the Nazis wanted Poland as part of their plan for “Lebensraum,” or living space, which meant eventually the entire country would be farmland, farmland for Germans to live on and expand their population.
  32. urchin
    a poor and often mischievous city child
    Street urchins with torn and dirty clothes and faces stretched out blackened hands, begging for a crust of bread.
  33. benefactor
    a person who helps people or institutions
    “She’s a benefactor of the OSE.” I didn’t know what a benefactor was, so I just nodded, making a mental note to ask the professor.
  34. infuse
    fill, as with a certain quality
    The Nazis with their straight lines, order, punctuality, and purity of race were the complete opposite of jazz, which infuses music traditions from around the world and is free and wild and improvised.
  35. improvise
    perform without preparation
    The Nazis with their straight lines, order, punctuality, and purity of race were the complete opposite of jazz, which infuses music traditions from around the world and is free and wild and improvised.
  36. genuinely
    in accordance with truth or fact or reality
    They chatted, were friendly and open, but weren’t know-it-alls like Salek. I felt they genuinely wanted to get to know me.
  37. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    Apparently, Switzerland wasn’t going to allow the older boys entry. But Rabbi Shachter was adamant that they, too, needed the opportunity to heal.
  38. forge
    make a copy of with the intent to deceive
    Some of the older boys also had younger brothers who were given visas for Switzerland, and he didn’t want siblings separated, so he had forged birth dates, making the older boys younger.
  39. casual
    appropriate for ordinary or routine occasions
    Henri and Jacques invited me for Friday Shabbat dinner. At first I hesitated at the invitation, letting them know that I wasn’t religious. But they assured me that the dinner would be casual, just about getting together.
  40. sprig
    a small branch or stem, usually with leaves or flowers
    “But I added some sprigs of rosemary and black pepper for flavor.”
Created on Mon Dec 11 11:40:16 EST 2023 (updated Tue Dec 12 13:57:43 EST 2023)

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