Alex Kurzem
Alex Kurzem | |
---|---|
Born | 18 November 1933 |
Died | 31 January 2022 Melbourne, Australia | (aged 88)
Known for | Holocaust memoir The Mascot |
Alex (Uldis) Kurzem (18 November 1933 – 31 January 2022) was an Australian pensioner originally from the
According to the story, Alex Kurzem is the former boy mascot (hence the book title) of a
In 2020, genetic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick concluded that Kurzem is 100% Ashkenazi Jewish came from the region of Belarus he claimed to, and had living relatives in Canada. These cousins provided family photographs that bolster the case for Kurzem's account of his origin.[6]
Biography
Kurzem claimed he pieced together his childhood memories with the help of his son, as well as with documents and evidence discovered while in search of his forgotten identity. He concluded that he was Ilya or Ellyeh the
Kurzem said that he escaped, while seeing the mass murder and that after months of living in the forest he was captured and taken to a site where Jews were being assassinated. He was saved from probable death by Jekabs Kulis, a sergeant of a Latvian police battalion after begging for bread and making the drunken soldiers laugh.[7][3] Kulis adopted him as the battalion's mascot, after secretly warning him never to reveal his Jewish identity. According to Kurzem's memory Kulis and his commander Lobe changed the story and rehearsed with him a narrative by which he was a Russian orphan who had lost his parents in the forest. The story was reiterated to him following the war by his former commanders and Latvian family. This was the narrative he told his family until he began opening up to the past.[7]
Throughout his childhood, Kurzem appeared in Nazi propaganda media as an
In 1944, according to Kurzem, with the
Media
In 2002, Kurzem's son Mark (died 2010[8]) wrote and produced a documentary (with Lina Caneva) entitled The Mascot, which tells his father's story of his childhood with the Latvian SS. Mark subsequently wrote a book, The Mascot, Unravelling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood, which tells the same story.[9] It was reported his story has inspired a full-length Hollywood feature film.[10]
Controversy
Suspicions about the accuracy and authenticity of Kurzem's story were first raised in the late 1990s at the Melbourne Holocaust Centre, when, according to Forensic researcher Colleen Fitzpatrick, a visiting Kurzem offered to pay $17,000 dollars to say he was Jewish.[11] Fitzpatrick, who was previously instrumental in exposing two books about the Holocaust as fraudulent, wrote in 2012 that there are similarities in Kurzem's narrative to other falsified Holocaust narratives. She further reported that Maisel had read accounts from the Yizkor book of Koidanow stating that the 1941 massacre was done in a surprise action and was over within hours - contrary to Kurzem's claims. Both Fitzpatrick and Maisel had received evasive answers from Kurzem when asking him about memories that most survivors find emotionally charged, specifically his family's murder and how he hid his circumcision from others. [11]
Kurzem has received reparations from the Jewish Claims Conference as a victim of Nazi persecution.[12] Fitzpatrick discovered that the GILF document on which Kurzem's reparations were based had been altered; although Kurzem claims that these alterations were performed to translate the originally Russian document into English, the original document has never been supplied.[11] No records of an Ilya Galpern/Halperin nor his mother exist, although records of other Galperin family members murdered in the town do. [11]
On May 19, 2011, Melbourne reporter Keith Moor published an article that questions the veracity of Kurzem's story and reports of simultaneous investigations by the German and U.S. governments as well as the Jewish Claims Conference into Kurzem's claims of actually being Jewish and a victim of Nazi persecution.[5] On September 21, 2012, Dan Goldman, a reporter for Israel's daily newspaper Haaretz, published an article about the investigation into Kurzem's story. Kurzem was quoted in the article that he "never said" he was Ilya Galperin. Despite previously asking to take a DNA test as reported by Keith Moor in 2011, Goldberg reports that Kurzem will take the test.[1]
As of 2013, Alex Kurzem has been cleared to continue receiving compensation from the German Government. The Jewish Claims Conference ordered the investigation. The report of the ombudsman was "satisfied Mr Kurzem was Jewish; was separated from his parents during the war; lived under a false identity for at least 18 months, and; that his life had been in danger".[13]
There is no doubt that he is the "mascot" boy, but the members of the Latvian SS unit still claim they were not part of the Slonim massacre and had not participated in any atrocities in accordance with the deposition Kurzem wrote for Kārlis Lobe. In the book Mark Kurzem tells of the doubts raised on both sides, claiming the Latvian denials were planned and expected but that the Jewish ones were a surprise.[7]
In 2019 Kurzem undertook a DNA test and in 2020, Fitzpatrick concluded that Kurzem is 100% Ashkenazi Jewish, comes from the region of Belarus he claimed to, and has living relatives in Canada. These cousins provided family photographs that bolster the case for Kurzem's account of his origin. [6]
Death
Kurzem died of COVID-19 in Melbourne, on 31 January 2022, at the age of 88.[14][15]
See also
- Misha Defonseca (Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years, 1997)
- Martin Grey(Au nom de tous les miens)
- Herman Rosenblat (Angel at the Fence)
- Rosemarie Pence (Hannah: From Dachau to the Olympics and Beyond, 2005)
- Enric Marco (Memorias del infierno, 1978)
- Donald J. Watt (Stoker, 1995)
- The Man who Broke into Auschwitz, 2011)
- Binjamin Wilkomirski(Fragments, 1995)
References
- ^ a b c d Dan Goldberg, "Holocaust Survivor in Australia Faces Questions of Authenticity". Haaretz.com.
- ^ Dan Goldberg (2012-09-27). "Australian man's Holocaust story labelled a 'lie'". The Jewish Chronicle Online. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
- ^ a b c d Christopher Martin, Michigan War Studies Review - book reviews, literature surveys, essays, and commentary.
- ^ Herald Sun, "Holocaust survivor's tale under scrutiny." Australia.
- ^ a b "Nothing to Hide Holocaust Survivor" | Herald Sun. Victoria.
- ^ a b "Genetic Genealogy Confirms Story of Alex Kurzem, the Nazi’s Little Jewish ‘Mascot’"
- ^ a b c d e All according to Mark Kurzem's book The Mascot, some reiterated in several televised interviews.
- ^ Mark Kurzem obituary | From the Guardian | The Guardian
- ISBN 9780670018260.
- ^ "Alex Kurzem - making peace with Ilya Galperin".
- ^ a b c d ""The Mascot" – Truth or Fiction?". J-Wire. 2012-09-16. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
- ^ "'Reich's youngest Nazi' investigated over Holocaust 'lies'". www.thejc.com. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
- ^ "Compensation claim upheld as Holocaust story believed" | Herald Sun. Victoria.
- ^ "KURZEMNIEKS, Alex (Uldis) | Funeral Notices | Melbourne". My Tributes. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
- ^ Goldberg, Dan (2024-01-31). "Did a Jewish orphan really become Hitler's youngest recruit?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2024-02-01.
Bibliography
- Mark Kurzem & Lina Caneva, The Mascot (Australian documentary for ABC television, 2002)
- Mark Kurzem, The Mascot (2007)
External links
- http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/nothing-to-hide-holocaust-survivor/story-fn7x8me2-1226059229104
- http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/07/1081222527300.html
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6945847.stm
- https://web.archive.org/web/20121102214022/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=f8aee6f6-c8bc-4053-ac56-354809d37355&k=25791
- https://web.archive.org/web/20101127223923/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiu_S9WJWGSqNpE_BWgOVMEy3tfA
- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/20/60minutes/main4815552.shtml