Questions for The Boy on the Wooden Box By Mrs. Konigsmark

1. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, the author tells of meeting the person responsible for saving his life during World War II. Who is that person? A:

2. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where does Leon play most often when he is a boy in the small town of Narewka? A: In the river.

3. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how many siblings does Leon have? A: Four

4. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what special treat did his mother make him to eat when he was just a little boy, before the war? A: Scrambled eggs.

5. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where does Leon’s father work? A: A glass factory.

6. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where does the father move, when the factory where he works is moved? A: Krakow.

7. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what country is the setting for most of the book? A: Poland.

8. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, What did the father like to purchase for himself? A: Elegant suits.

9. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, which child does Leon suspect his father favors? A: Pesza, the only girl.

10. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what does the father bring the children when he comes home from the city? A: Candy.

11. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, In the town of Narewka, before the war, what type of school would Leon attend in the afternoons? A: Heder, or Jewish School.

12. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what new invention do the Leysons put in their home in Narewka? A: Electricity.

13. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how many beds did the Leysons have in their home in Narewka? A: One.

14. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, even before World War II, what did Jewish law prohibit from owning? A: Land.

15. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where does the family move in 1938? A: They join the father in Krakow.

16. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what modern invention amazes Leon in their apartment in Krakow? A; Indoor plumbing. 33

17. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is one of Leon’s favorite games in his early days in Krakow? A: Riding the streetcar. 36

18. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, there are 60,000 WHAT living in Krakow in 1938? A: Jews.

19. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, the family learns that Hitler has expelled whom from Germany? A: Polish Jews.

20. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is the name of the night in 1938 when the windows in Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues were shattered in Austria and Germany? A: Kristallnacht.

21. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, in September 1939, who invades Poland? A: Germany.

22. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who leaves Krakow and returns to Narewka? A: Leon’s father and Leon’s brother, Herschel. 50

23. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, when Leon’s father and Leon’s brother, Herschel, return to Narewka in 1939, who decides to return to Krakow and who remains in Narewka? A: The dad returns to Krakow and Herschel stays in Narewka. 50

24. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, the Germans put up posters all over depicting what? A: Jews looking ugly and dirty. 52

25. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, name something the Germans did not allow Jews to do. A: Sit on park benches, be in parks, ride in the front part of the streetcar. 52

26. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, name a way the Germans terrorized Jews in the beginning of the war. A: Looting businesses, taking away their belongings, evicting them from their apartments, cut off their beards, attending school. 53, 60

26. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who beats up Leon’s father? A: Nazis. 56

27. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who in Leon’s family taken by Nazis from their apartment? A: Leon’s father. 57

28. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, beginning in 1939, what are Jews above the age of 12 required to wear? A: A blue star of David and a white armband. 63

29. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how does Leon’s father meet Oskar Schindler? A: He cracks open a safe for him. 65-66

30. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is the name of Schindler’s company? A: German Enamel works. 68

31. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, the Germans in 1940 decreed that how many Jews could remain in Krakow? A: 15,000. 72

32. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, why do the Leysons stay in Krakow after the Germans declare they want to “cleanse” the city of all Jews? A: Because Leon’s dad had a job, and because there were rumors that those leaving were being sent to their deaths. 73

33. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is the part of the city called where all Jews are moved in the end of 1940? A: The ghetto. Or Podgorze. 76

34. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what do the stones on the top of the walls of the Jewish ghetto look like to Leon? A: Gravestones. 77.

35. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, the Leysons share their new apartment in the ghetto with another family. What does the father in that family collect? A: Pipes. 80

36. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how many people are housed in the ghetto, which normally housed 5,000 people? A: 15,000. 81.

37. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, which member of Leon’s family is arrested and taken away while they are in the ghetto? A: Tsalig. 94

38. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who tries to rescue Tsalig from the cattle car after his arrest? A: Schindler. 96

39. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, why won’t Tsalig leave the cattle car when Schindler finds him? A: He won’t leave his girlfriend, Miriam. 96

40. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what does Leon have to leave behind when he and his family move from ghetto B to ghetto A? A: Mr. Luftig’s pipe collection. 107

41. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, in March 1943, where do the Leysons have to go? A: Plaszow, a concentration camp. 109.

42. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is Plaszow built on top of? A: Jewish cemeteries that Germans destroyed. 113

43. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who is Geoth? A: The commandant at the camp. 120

44. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what punishment did Commandant Geoth like to inflict on his Jewish prisoners? A: whipping them. 121

45. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where does Leon work, both when he is in the ghetto, and when he is in Plaszow? A: At a brush factory. 125

46. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how does the family get out of Plaszow? A: Schindler builds his own camp for his workers. 128

47. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, why is Leon called the boy on the wooden box? A: Because he is small and has to stand on a box to do his job at Schindler’s factory. 138

48. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what gift would Schindler “accidentally” leave for Leon’s father? A: cigarettes. 141

49. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is Schindler’s plan to save his workers as the war progresses? A: To move the factory to . 145

50. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what job is David forced to do to help the Germans cover their tracks as they began to lose the war? A: Dig up bodies of Jews and burn them. 149

51. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what is the name of the second concentration camp Leon is sent to? A: Gross-Rosen. 153

52. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson What does he have to do for the guards to prove his physical fitness? A: Run around naked. 154-155

53. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson What do the Nazis do to his hair at Gross-Rosen? A: They shave his head. 152

54. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, When they get to Schindler’s unfinished factory in Brunnlitz, Leon hears what about the women who were supposed to have been taken separately to Brunnlitz? A: That they were taken to Auschwitz. 156 55. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, when Schindler asks Leon up to his office, what does he give him? A: A piece of bread. 160

56. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, who tells Leon and the others that they are FREE? A: Schindler 163

57. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how many Jews did Schindler ultimately save? A: nearly 1,200. 165

58. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, when a Russian soldier tells them to leave the camp at the end of the war, what does he tell them to take off? A: The numbers and triangles on their uniforms. 165

59. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where do the Leysons go at the end of the war, when they leave Czechoslovakia? A: Krakow. 167

60. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, Jews have a hard time when they return home. A Jewish woman is falsely accused of what? A: Kidnapping a gentile boy. 171.

61. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, a false rumor spreads about the Jews after the war – they say they are doing something called blood libel. What is this? A: Using gentile children for blood transfusions. 171

62. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what do Leon’s father learn has happened to all the men from Narewka, their home town? A: They are gunned down by SS troops and buried in a mass grave. 173-4

63. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what are Leon’s clothes made out of when he gets out of the camp? A: A bolt of cloth taken from the last camp.

64. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what special piece of clothing does Leon get after the war? A: A fedora hat. 177

65. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what excuse do some Germans give the Jews for allowing to happen? A: “We didn’t know.” 179

66. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where do siblings David and Pesza first go? A: Czechoslovakia.

67. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, siblings David and Pesza leave Czechoslovakia and go where? A: . 181

68. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, in 1949, Leon and his family move to where? A: , USA 181

69. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, a woman on the train teaches Leon what? A: What the different US coins are. 184

70. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what does Leon leave behind on the train when he arrives in California? A: His fedora. 185

71. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, how old is Leon when he settles in the US? A: 19 p. 185

72. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what war is Leon drafted to fight in? A: The . 190

73. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, what shocks Leon about the bus when he is visiting Atlanta, Georgia? A: That blacks have to sit in the back. 190-191

74. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, where is he stationed during the Korean War? A: Okinawa. 192

75. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson What job does Leon hold for 39 years? A: teacher 193

76. In The Boy on the Wooden Box by Leon Leyson, Leon finally breaks his silence about his World War II experiences after what happens? A: The movie, Schindler’s List, is released. 198