A Shoah story like no other
'The Mascot' is an unlikely tale of Jewish identity
The Mascot is an unusual Holocaust story that has sparked debate over what it means to be a survivor. While Alex Kurzem did not survive a concentration camp or live in a ghetto, he did witness the brutal massacre of his mother, siblings and entire village in Belarus at the age of five. But from there, his story takes an unprecedented turn.
Kurzem escaped the extermination of his village by hiding in the forest, barely surviving until he was rescued by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. The young boy charmed the soldiers and hid his Jewish identity, becoming an honorary Nazi soldier and the mascot of the army.
The book, written by Kuzem's son Mark, details the stunning revelation of his story nearly 50 years later and the journey both father and son took to discover the elder Kurzem's Jewish identity.
"My father had an inexorable need to reveal himself," said Kurzem. "He was coming toward the twilight years of his life and he wanted to know who he was."
But those revelations did not come easy. After a lifetime of hiding his Jewish background in order to survive, Alex Kurzem struggled to tell the truth and experienced feelings of obligation, fear and guilt toward the Latvians who saved his life.
"He had been raised until the age of five as a Jewish child," said Kurzem. "Then he was with these soldiers who rounded up Jewish people and shot them. It was very clear to him what his fate could be if he was discovered."
Alex Kurzem learned to become a cooperative pet of the army: proudly wearing his SS uniform, patrolling with soldiers who committed atrocities in front of his horrified eyes and even starring in a German propaganda documentary. In the book, Alex Kurzem confided in his son that he never felt safe. He always knew he was Jewish, but kept his secret in order to survive.
But when he approached the local Melbourne Holocaust society and other organizations with his story, he experienced hostility and doubt from the Jewish community. Some groups said that Alex Kurzem had not suffered in a concentration camp, therefore his story was not a Holocaust story.
"There were accusations that he was just lying; that he was trying to get Holocaust reimbursement," said Kurzem. "Once we had not only proof, but objective historical records, some people changed their tune, but not everyone."
His father also experienced intimidation and threats from the Latvian nationals and underground network of Nazi war criminals in hiding in Australia and abroad, who did not want his story to implicate them.
"He was genuinely confused about it and worried about creating any danger for us, his family," said Kurzem. "He was also deeply concerned about how his adopted Latvian family would react [and] whether they'd reject him."
But Alex Kurzem was driven to seek out his identity, which he had forgotten in the trauma of war. With only a few vague memories to go on, the father-son team started researching in 1997.
"I had to piece information and events together out of the evidence and anecdotes he gave me," said the younger Kurzem. "I found as he spoke to me, you could watch memories coming to life as he was speaking and watch a memory emerging for the first time."
They were able to trace his memories back to a small village in Belarus, where Kurzem's family, along with the entire community, was murdered. And although the journey back validated decades-old memories, Kurzem said the floodgates are still open.
"There are all sorts of revelations -- the story never ends," said Kurzem. "Never a week goes by without my father remembering something else or being approached by someone who claims to have known his parents or him as a little boy."
Now, Alex Kurzem hopes he can recover some of the identity that he lost at such a young age.
"My father is trying to connect to his Jewish background," said Kurzem. "I think he felt most of his life that he didn't belong, so for him it was an important thing to take hold of."
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