The Watchmakers
A Story of Brotherhood, Survival, and Hope Amid the Holocaust
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Told through interviews with his son, Jewish watchmaker Harry Lenga's extraordinary memoir of endurance, faith, and a unique skill that kept three brothers together--and alive--during the darkest times of World War II.
Harry Lenga was born to a family of Chassidic Jews in Kozhnitz, Poland. The proud sons of a watchmaker, Harry and his two brothers, Mailekh and Moishe, studied their father's trade at a young age. Upon the German invasion of Poland, when the Lenga family was upended, Harry and his brothers never anticipated that the tools acquired from their father would be the key to their survival.
Under the most devastating conditions imaginable--with death always imminent--fixing watches for the Germans in the ghettos and brutal slave labor camps of occupied Poland and Austria bought their lives over and over again. From Wolanow and Starachowice to Auschwitz and Ebensee, Harry, Mailekh, and Moishe endured, bartered, worked, prayed, and lived to see liberation.
Derived from more than a decade of interviews with Harry Lenga, conducted by his own son Scott and others, The Watchmakers is Harry's heartening and unflinchingly honest first-person account of his childhood, the lessons learned from his own father, his harrowing tribulations, and his inspiring life before, during, and after the war. It is a singular and vital story, told from one generation to the next--and a profoundly moving tribute to brotherhood, fatherhood, family, and faith.
2022 National Jewish Book Award Finalist
"A Holocaust memoir that is so well told that you feel like you are sitting in the room with Harry Lenga, listening to him as he relates the meaningful episodes of his life...Even if you have read other Holocaust memoirs before, reading this one will be well worth your time. Harry's positivity, optimism and seichel are truly inspiring." --San Diego Jewish World
"Deeply moving." --Jesse Kellerman, bestselling author
"Vivid and compelling." --Christopher R. Browning, Frank Porter Graham Professor of History Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and author of Ordinary Men
"A truly extraordinary book." --Damien Lewis, #1 international bestselling author
About this Author
Harry Lenga was born in 1919 to a family of Chassidic Jews in Kozhnitz, Poland, where his father taught him and his brothers the watchmaking trade that would save their lives during the war. Harry was working in Warsaw when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, and escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto in 1941 to reunite with his family in the Kozhnitz Ghetto. The night before the Germans murdered its entire Jewish population--including his remaining family members--Harry and two of his brothers escaped Kozhnitz to a nearby Polish-run labor camp. From there the three brothers were transported between 1942 and 1945 to the camps in Wolanow, Starachowice, and Auschwitz, and then to the Austrian concentration camps of Mauthausen, Melk, and Ebensee. All three were liberated by the US Army on May 6, 1945. In 1949, Harry immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri, where he married, had three sons, and went on to have three granddaughters. He continued working as a watchmaker for nearly 30 years before retiring and later moving with his wife to Israel. Harry Lenga died on January 2, 2000 at the age of 80.
Scott Lenga is the son of Harry Lenga. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, he holds a BA in economics from UC Berkeley and a law degree from UCLA. He and his wife live in Israel, where they raised three daughters who grew up listening to stories about the grandfather they never really knew. In addition to writing and speaking about his family's experiences during and after World War II, he serves as a corporate and intellectual property lawyer for technology companies. Visit him online at ScottLenga.com.
Reviews
Praise for The Watchmakers
"The reader hears Harry's voice bringing his experiences to life with all their daily horrors and cruelty yet imbued with the brothers' devotion to each other and their determination to live. It is a powerful voice recounting an inspiring story of hope in the face of unimaginable hardship. Like their father before them, the three sons became watchmakers, little imagining that the trade would provide not just a livelihood but life itself." --Jewish Book Council
"A Holocaust memoir that is so well told that you feel like you are sitting in the room with Harry Lenga, listening to him as he relates the meaningful episodes of his life. . . . Even if you have read other Holocaust memoirs before, reading this one will be well worth your time. Harry's positivity, optimism and seichel are truly inspiring." --San Diego Jewish World
"A truly extraordinary book--one full of compassion, love, and hope in the midst of unimaginable suffering and despair--The Watchmakers is a humbling account, one that is both jaw-droppingly well-written and uplifting at the same time." --Damien Lewis, #1 international bestselling author
"Inspiring. Exhilarating. Astonishing. An epic tale of brotherhood, ingenuity, and survival, told with the ticking precision of a wind-up watch. The Watchmakers reminds us of the importance of loyalty, how to persevere against aggression, and how well-timed and precisely measured audacity can ignite a hidden spark of humanity in the darkest of times." --Heather Dune Macadam, international bestselling author of 999: The Extraordinary Young Women of the First Official Jewish Transport to Auschwitz and Star Crossed: A True Romeo and Juliet Story in Hitler's Paris
"The Watchmakers is an astonishing testament to courage, guile, and brotherly devotion under impossible circumstances. Gripping as a thriller, deeply moving, it brings fresh urgency to a vitally important piece of history. Everyone should read it." --Jesse Kellerman, bestselling author
"The journey of Harry Lenga and his two brothers from the Kozhnitz ghetto through various slave labor camps and finally Auschwitz-Birkenau, Mauthausen, Melk, and Ebensee is a story of resilience, adaptability, ingenuity, endurance, and perseverance." --Christopher R. Browning, Frank Porter Graham Professor of History Emeritus, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and author of Ordinary Men and Remembering Survival
"Every story of Holocaust survival is extraordinary and few more so than Harry Lenga's. Captured by his son, Scott, this is a saga of fortitude, resilience, brotherly love, and faith. It should be read by anyone--students, teachers, historians--who cares about preserving the memory of those who, like Harry Lenga and his brothers, found a way of remaining alive--and remaining human--in the face of evil." --Dr. Michael Oren, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States, and member of Knesset
"A fascinating read. The horror of Nazi Germany will always haunt us, but like most traumas there is a temptation to file the era away and pay scant attention to the experience. The Watchmakers cuts through that and lays bare the utter inhumanity of what happened in appalling detail. Its focus on the day-to-day--indeed the moment-to-moment--struggle to survive strikes home vividly." --Simon Scarrow, Sunday Times bestselling author of Blackout and the Eagles of the Empire series
"A must read! This is a story of broken family relationships that become unbreakable when put to the test. You feel their quickening heartbeat and the cut of the tightrope on their feet as they face death with every step. Inspiring and unforgettable." --Hadassah Lieberman, author of Hadassah: An American Story
"The Watchmakers is a magnificent testimony to the strength that lies within the human spirit in the face of extreme adversity. This book should have a central place in every course that is taught on the Holocaust." --Rabbi Robert Sternberg, founding director of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and co-author of Jewish-Christian Relations in Light of the Holocaust
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