I Have Lived a Thousand Years, by Livia Bitton-Jackson, is a true account of the author's life during the Holocaust. It tells the story of a young girl's adolescence and how she managed to make it through the horrors of World War II as a Jew. It's a story of persecution, death, torture, but most of all, of courage and the will to survive against all obstacles.

The main character is a young teenage girl by the name of Elli. Other important characters are her mother, father, and older brother Bubi. Elli has big dreams for her future. She loves school and excels at the top of her class. She loves writing poetry and aspires to be a great poet when she gets older. Her relationship with her mother is not one of love and friendship, yet she yearns for her mother to hug her and tell her she's beautiful like she sees other mother's doing with their daughters. She feels that she is a disappointment to her mother. Her relationship with her father, on the other hand, is quite different. She's very close to him, and he believes that she is capable of anything. Elli looks up to her older brother, Bubi, the most. He has just left for school in Budapest when the story begins. Someday she wishes to

Stories of Hungarian persecution of Jews circulate throughout Elli's town, but no one actually believes that it will make it that far. Late one night, Bubi returns from Budapest unannounced and tells his family that the city was invaded by the Germans, but no one believes him because the rest of the country was unaware of the development. He is sent back the next day, but soon after doing so, Elli's father realizes that Bubi was right and is devastated for making him go back. Luckily, Bubi makes it back home for a second time. Over the course of the next few months, the Jews are stripped of everything and finally made to relocate to a ghetto, Nagymagyar. After spending a month there and getting used to the inhumane way of life, all the men are taken away to a Hungarian Forced Labor Camp. That is the last time Elli and her family ever see her father again. A few days later, all books, religious documents, ANYTHING, is burned, and the remaining males are made to shave their beards. A few days later they are taken to Ghetto Dunaszerdahely, where they are held for only a few days and then again liquidated and put into cattle cars. They arrive at Auschwitz four days later where Elli is told to lie about her age so that she won't be separated from her mother. They are separated from Bubi and Elli's aunt though. Then, they are made to strip naked, put "rags" for clothes on, take freezing cold showers, and all hair on their body is shaved off. After a little while, they are taken to another camp, Plazcow, where they stay for approximately two months and then are taken back to Auschwitz where numbers are tattooed on their arms. Elli must encourage her mother not to give up in order to survive for she begins to lose faith and hope. In the diffe

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1176
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)