Spolek pro ochranu zvířat, J. R. Pick

Children lived and grew up in the horrific reality of the Terezín fortress – in the shadow of death, which was often only a short time away. But children, even adolescents, inhabit their own world, where the reality of adults penetrates only with difficulty and often incomprehensibly, and whose course defies the uncompromising laws of physical time. J. R. Pick managed to draw from his own memories not only to conjure up and bring to life the image of the eager, spontaneous joy of the little that was granted to the prematurely matured in the camp, but also, paradoxically, to capture the absurdly comical relationship of Jews to the dark reality of genocide. This little book is unique in the world, perhaps the only humorous depiction of life in a concentration camp.

The author of the afterword to this new edition of the book, Jáchym Topol, is a staunch supporter of the black humor of the Society for the Protection of Animals. As a child witness to dissident meetings in his parents' apartment, he also noticed J. R. Picka's participation. Zuzana Justman Picková also returns to the atmosphere of the old Protectorate days alongside her older brother, recalling and noting that after the end of his concentration camp ordeal, it took Pick a full twenty years to return to the subject and produce this small book of extraordinary significance.