The secret history of the Nazi mascot
Alex Kurzem came to Australia in 1949 carrying just a small brown briefcase, but weighed down by some harrowing psychological and emotional baggage.
Tucked away in his briefcase were the secrets of his past - fragments of his life that he kept hidden for decades.
In 1997, after raising a family in Melbourne with his Australian bride, he finally revealed himself. He told how, at the age of five, he had been adopted by the SS and became a Nazi mascot.
His personal history, one of the most remarkable stories to emerge from World War II, was published recently in a book entitled The Mascot.
"They gave me a uniform, a little gun and little pistol," Alex told the BBC....
In newsreels, he was paraded as 'the Reich's youngest Nazi' and he witnessed some unspeakable atrocities.
But his SS masters never discovered the most essential detail about his life: their little Nazi mascot was Jewish.
Read entire article at BBC
Tucked away in his briefcase were the secrets of his past - fragments of his life that he kept hidden for decades.
In 1997, after raising a family in Melbourne with his Australian bride, he finally revealed himself. He told how, at the age of five, he had been adopted by the SS and became a Nazi mascot.
His personal history, one of the most remarkable stories to emerge from World War II, was published recently in a book entitled The Mascot.
"They gave me a uniform, a little gun and little pistol," Alex told the BBC....
In newsreels, he was paraded as 'the Reich's youngest Nazi' and he witnessed some unspeakable atrocities.
But his SS masters never discovered the most essential detail about his life: their little Nazi mascot was Jewish.