06/27/2026
I finished this book at 2 AM and sat in the dark for a long time. Not because I couldn't sleep. Because I didn't want to close the book on Eddie Jaku's voice. He was 100 years old when he wrote this. He died at 101. And in between, he survived Buchenwald, Auschwitz, and a N**i death march, and somehow, impossibly, called himself "the happiest man on earth" .
That sentence is almost offensive in its audacity. How dare he? How dare anyone who lost his parents in the gas chambers, who watched friends die of starvation and exposure, who lived through the worst of human cruelty, claim happiness?
But that's the thing about this book. It doesn't ask for your permission. It doesn't explain. It just sits there, a quiet, stubborn, 100-year-old testament to the idea that happiness is not about what happens to you. It's about what you choose to do with what happens to you.
Eddie Jaku was born in Leipzig, Germany, in 1920. His family considered themselves German first, Jewish second. His Catholic school friends ate at his house. "There was no distinction," he writes, "because we were always German first" .
Then Hi**er came to power. On November 9, 1938, during the violence of Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, Eddie was beaten by SS thugs, arrested, and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. He was eighteen years old . For the next seven years, he faced unimaginable horrors. He escaped a train to Auschwitz by unscrewing the floorboards with stolen tools and jumping out. He lived in an attic with his family in Belgium. They were betrayed, arrested, and sent to Auschwitz. His parents, aged 43 and 50, were murdered in the gas chambers upon arrival . He survived a death march by hiding in a cave, eating slugs and snails, drinking poisoned water, and finally collapsing in front of an American tank on June 4, 1945 . A doctor told him he was "65 percent dead, 35 percent alive."
And he lived.
5 Lessons from The Happiest Man on Earth:
1. Gratitude is a discipline, not a feeling. Eddie didn't wait to feel grateful. He practiced gratitude. He cultivated an attitude of thankfulness, appreciating the simple joys in life and enjoying the blessings he had, rather than dwelling on what he lacked . It's not about pretending things are good. It's about choosing to notice what is.
2. You can choose how to respond to anything. Eddie's life philosophy is simple: while we cannot control everything, we can choose how to respond. Happiness is a choice . This is not toxic positivity. It's survival.
3. Hate destroys the hater. Eddie called hatred a disease "that destroys your enemy and then you." He refused to carry it . Carrying hatred is not strength. It's a prison for the soul .
4. Meaningful relationships are everything. "Without a friend in Auschwitz you are dead," Eddie writes . His friendship with Kurt Hirschfeld, which he first formed at Buchenwald, gave him crucial moral support and saved his life on multiple occasions. Nurturing relationships with loved ones, fostering deep bonds of trust, love, and support, is essential . The happiest people are connected.
5. It is never too late to start. Eddie's life isn't just about his survival. It's about what he did with his survival. In 1950, he moved to Australia and built a new life . Starting in the 1970s, he began speaking about his experiences, first in small groups, then to ever-larger audiences . He became a volunteer at the Sydney Jewish Museum, giving visitors a first-hand account of surviving the Holocaust, from November 1992 until the pandemic . His message was never one of anger, but of love and happiness, in sheer defiance of the N**is' exploitation of grievance and hatred . He donated his book royalties to the Sydney Jewish Museum . He was 100 when this book was published. It's never too late to find your purpose.
The Happiest Man on Earth is a book I will press into people's hands for the rest of my life. It's not perfect. It's not a philosophy. It's a witness. One man, who saw the worst of humanity, choosing to believe in the best.
Eddie died on October 12, 2021, at 101 years old . He left behind a book, a legacy, and a challenge: "Every day when I wake up I say it's another day to enjoy" .
Read this book. Then ask yourself: if he can find happiness, what's my excuse?
BOOK: https://amzn.to/4eeLOQ7
Rating: 5 stars. Essential reading for anyone who has ever suffered, lost, or wondered if joy is still possible.
