He was paraded in front of another secret Jew, Hitler himself while he wore his cute little S.S. uniform.Alex Kurzem went to live in Australia in 1949, he had a secret that had weighed him doon for years he told no one not even his wife until 1997.
In 1941 in a village in Belarus the German army invaded. They lined up all the men in the town square and shot them, including Alex's father. His mother told him that they would soon be next. Alex was 5 or 6 and remembers that he didn't want to die so he ran away in the night to an over looking hill and waited till dawn, his mother, brother and sister were killed that day.
He went into the forest and survived by scavenging clothes off dead soldiers and begging for food at hooses, after 9 months he was handed in by a local man to the Latvian police who then later became a part for the German SS .
He thought they were going to kill him but a soldier who examined Alex and found him to be Jewish told the others that he was a Russian Orphan, his Aryan looks helped others believe it.
Alex was given a German uniform which included a little gun and did chores for the soldiers and kept up moral.
In 1941 in a village in Belarus the German army invaded. They lined up all the men in the town square and shot them, including Alex's father. His mother told him that they would soon be next. Alex was 5 or 6 and remembers that he didn't want to die so he ran away in the night to an over looking hill and waited till dawn, his mother, brother and sister were killed that day.
He went into the forest and survived by scavenging clothes off dead soldiers and begging for food at hooses, after 9 months he was handed in by a local man to the Latvian police who then later became a part for the German SS .
He thought they were going to kill him but a soldier who examined Alex and found him to be Jewish told the others that he was a Russian Orphan, his Aryan looks helped others believe it.
Alex was given a German uniform which included a little gun and did chores for the soldiers and kept up moral.
He starred in Nazi propaganda films and was used to lure Jews into cattle cars by handing out bars of chocolate, he also saw action on the Russian front. All the time he worried about the Germans finding out and shooting him or the Russians getting him and shooting him.
Look at the enjoyment on the faces of the soldiers as they play 'kick the Jew.'
After the war he lived with a Latvian family then moved to Australia and worked as a TV repair man and settled doon to start a family. He told them of his past in 1997 and went to Europe with his son to the village where he was born, they found out his real name was Ilya Galperin, and even found a film in a Latvian archive of Alex in full SS regalia.
You can't really blame the lad, his survival instincts took over and he did what he had to do. When you see something horrific happening to someone the last thing you want is that to happen to you.
I just thought this story was an interesting one and something to think about. A short film was made out of this story called 'The Mascot' directed by Lina Caneva in 2003.
