The mascot unraveling the mystery of my Jewish father's Nazi boyhood
A survival story, a grim fairy-tale, and a psychological drama, this memoir asks provocative questions about identity, complicity, and forgiveness. When a Nazi death squad raided his Latvian village, Jewish five-year-old Alex escaped. After surviving the winter by foraging for food and stealing clothes off dead soldiers, he was discovered by a Latvian SS unit. Not knowing he was Jewish, they made him their mascot, dressing the little "corporal" in uniform and toting him from massacre to massacre. When the war ended he was sent to Australia with a family of Latvian refugees. Fearful of discovery--as either a Jew or a Nazi--Alex kept the secret of his childhood, even from his family, but he grew tormented and determined to uncover the story of his past. Shunned by a local Holocaust organization, he reached out to his son Mark for help in reclaiming his identity.
""As a five-year-old Russian orphan in World War Two, he [Alex Kurzem] had been found by Latvian soldiers, made their mascot and given a new name and birthdate. But Alex was actually a Jew ... With his real identity hidden, he became a poster boy for the Nazi ideal and was taken into a Latvian family, who later migrated to Australia ... He never revealed his secret, even to his wife and children ... [But after a series of events in 1996 he returned] to Eastern Europe with his son, filmmaker Mark Kurzem ... The Mascot is the story of Alex's search for his true history and the unexpected impact that had on his family, community and himself."--Back cover of jacket."
"A survival story, a grim fairy-tale, and a psychological drama, this memoir asks provocative questions about identity, complicity, and forgiveness. When a Nazi death squad raided his Latvian village, Jewish five-year-old Alex escaped. After surviving the winter by foraging for food and stealing clothes off dead soldiers, he was discovered by a Latvian SS unit. Not knowing he was Jewish, they made him their mascot, dressing the little "corporal" in uniform and toting him from massacre to massacre. When the war ended he was sent to Australia with a family of Latvian refugees. Fearful of discovery--as either a Jew or a Nazi--Alex kept the secret of his childhood, even from his family, but he grew tormented and determined to uncover the story of his past. Shunned by a local Holocaust organization, he reached out to his son Mark for help in reclaiming his identity."@en
"Documents the author's father's childhood as a Nazi SS unit's mascot, describing how the five-year-old Jewish escapee from a death squad witnessed massacres by his unit and his efforts to hide his Nazi ties in later years."@en
"A survival story, a grim fairy-tale, and a psychological drama, this memoir asks provocative questions about identity, complicity, and forgiveness. When a Nazi death squad raided his Latvian village, Jewish five-year-old Alex escaped. After surviving the winter by foraging for food and stealing clothes off dead soldiers, he was discovered by a Latvian SS unit. Not knowing he was Jewish, they made him their mascot, dressing the little "corporal" in uniform and toting him from massacre to massacre. When the war ended he was sent to Australia with a family of Latvian refugees. Fearful of discovery--as either a Jew or a Nazi--Alex kept the secret of his childhood, even from his family. But he grew tormented and determined to uncover the story of his past. Shunned by a local Holocaust organization, he reached out to his son Mark for help in reclaiming his identity.--From publisher description."
"Enfant juif né en Biélorussie, Alex Kurzem assiste au massacre de sa famille en octobre 1941 avant d'être recueilli par le bataillon letton d'exécutants SS qui a assassiné ses proches. Affublé d'un nouveau nom, Uldis Kurzemnieks, il devient malgré lui la mascotte de ce régiment. A 60 ans, il se confie à son fils, Mark, qui est historien. La voix du survivant se mêle au récit de l'historien."
"The 'spellbinding' (The New York Times) true story of a Jewish boy who became the darling of the Nazis When a Nazi death squad massacred his mother and fellow villagers, five-year-old Alex Kurzem escaped, hiding in the freezing Russian forest until he was picked up by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. Alex was able to hide his Jewish identity and win over the soldiers, becoming their mascot and an honorary 'corporal' in the SS with his own uniform. But what began as a desperate bid for survival became a performance that delighted the highest ranks of the Nazi elite. And so a young Jewish boy ended up starring in a Nazi propaganda film. After sixty-three years of silence, Alex revealed his terrible secret to his son Mark. With his son's help, Alex retraced his past in search of answers and vindication. His story is at once a terrifying account of survival and its psychological cost as well as a brutally honest examination of identity, complicity, and memory."@en
"The Mascot tells the remarkable true story of Mark Kurzem's father, Alex. At five years old, in 1941, Alex escaped a German execution squad in Latvia, ran into some nearby woods and, the next morning, watched his Jewish mother and siblings being shot. He survived alone amongst the trees for nearly nine months before falling into the hands of an SS unit, the soldiers of which treated him kindly and adopted him as their mascot. With his custom-made SS uniform, peaked cap and full belly, Alex went with them everywhere as they shot and raped Jews wherever they could find them. He was even used in Nazi propaganda films ... Ultimately, after the War, he made a new life in Australia, and kept silent about his childhood secrets, not even telling his wife and sons. Was he a collaborator, or just a little boy? Nearly 60 years later he flew across the world to visit his academic son Mark at Oxford University and, from then on, tiny details, long buried in his memory, began to surface. Mark was astonished, and began to help him rediscover and unravel his past. This included a return to his original village in Latvia to search for his mother's grave, and being tailed by Mossad agents and members of the Simon Weisenthal Centre. Eventually Mark made a film called The Mascot which won Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival and has also written this gripping account of what he and his father have been through in order to tell the truth at last."
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enfant Juif victime de guerre Lettonie guerre mondiale 2 1939 / 1945 [document]
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Enfants juifs pendant l'Holocauste Lettonie Riga Biographies.
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Enfants juifs pendant la Shoah Biélorussie Biographies.
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Guerre mondiale (1939-1945) Enfants Biélorussie Récits personnels juifs.
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Guerre mondiale (1939-1945) Juifs Biélorussie Récits personnels.
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Guerre mondiale, 1939-1945 Lettonie Participation des jeunes.
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Guerre mondiale (1939-1945) Participation des jeunes Récits personnels juifs.
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Jewish children in the Holocaust Lativa Riga Biography.
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Jewish children in the Holocaust Latvia Biography.
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Jewish children in the Holocaust Latvia Rīga Biography.
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World War, 1939-1945 Latvia Participation, Juvenile.
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