Joseph Schleifstein

His case gained publicity in 1999 with the anniversary of the 1997 movie Life is Beautiful; it was discovered Schleifstein's story was an inspiration for the script.

[2] Schleifstein's parents kept him hidden in cellars,[3] because Nazi guards would take children, too young to be used as laborers and therefore "useless", and send them to be murdered in the gas chambers at Auschwitz.

[3] In the general confusion of lining up, however, Joseph's father found a large sack and, with a stern warning to keep absolutely quiet, placed his 21⁄2-year-old child in it.In 1943, the family was deported to Buchenwald concentration camp.

[1] On arrival, Schleifstein's parents were sent to the right to become slave laborers and he was sent to the left, to the group of small children and elderly[1] or otherwise deemed unfit for work, who were to be murdered immediately.

The 1947 American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) document that first brought Schleifstein's case to light, notes that "In the general confusion of lining up, however, Joseph's father found a large sack and, with a stern warning to keep absolutely quiet, placed his 21⁄2-year-old child in it.

"[3] Nonetheless, when there were formal inspections by visiting Nazi officials, Schleifstein had to be hidden[3] and he said he was once lined up for execution but was saved by his father's intervention.

Schleifstein was photographed numerous times when the camp was liberated,[6] including one notable photo of him sitting on the running board of a United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration truck.

[8] He also took part in the Buchenwald Camp trial, held in Dachau, Germany by an American military tribunal from April 11, 1947, to August 14, 1947.

[3] After the release of Roberto Benigni's movie, Life Is Beautiful[4] about a child in a concentration camp, a JDC archivist came across records about Schleifstein while doing research for an exhibit.