The Boys: The Untold Story of 732 Young Concentration Camp Survivors
At the end of World War II, Britain offered to take in 1,000 young survivors  of the German concentration camps; only 732 could be found.The Boysis the  story of those children, mostly Polish and Hungarian Jews who, against all odds, survived  the horrors of the camps. The title is slightly misleading, as there were a few girls in the  group; however, girls under the age of 16 were murdered in the camps at much higher  rates than boys. At the time of their ordeal, most of these children were in their teens,  though a few were younger. By the time the war ended and the camps were liberated,  many were near death. The youths' survival was certainly due in part to their own  determination to live, but it was also a matter of chance--unexpected kindness,  serendipitous opportunities, the luck of the draw.Drawn together by their shared experience, "the boys" remained close after  emigration to England, and even though several of them have since moved to America  and Canada, they continue to celebrate their friendship with an annual dinner. Author  Martin Gilbert has attended these reunions for 20 years. Three years ago he suggested the  boys send him their recollections of life in the camps, and from these memories this book  takes its shape. Harrowing, horrifying, yet deeply moving,The Boysstands as a  testimonial to those who survived the Holocaust as well as those who did not.