The Youngest Corporal In The Nazi Army

How A Young Jewish Boy Escaped Death And Became A Mascot For Nazi Soldiers

(CBS)  This is a story of survival - the incredible story of how a six-year-old Jewish boy survived the Nazis' final solution and kept how he survived a secret for more than 50 years.

It's the story of Alex Kurzem, who at the age of six watched his family being shot by the Nazis. He escaped and wandered alone for months until he was captured by Nazi soldiers. But instead of killing him, they made him their mascot.

Alex was so young, he quickly forgot his family name, his age, and the name of his village. But he did remember that the Nazis had fenced the Jews into a ghetto, and on his last night there Nazi soldiers burst into his house and began beating his mother.

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"I remember, when she shielded me that her blood [was] dripping. I felt my face and [there] was blood on my head. But it was my mother's blood," Kurzem told 60 Minutes correspondent Bob Simon.

Kurzem told Simon he and his siblings were hiding under skirts. "My little brother and sister and we were, she was shielding us sort of."

She could shield them from the soldiers' blows, but not their bullets. And she told Alex that the next day they would all be shot. "That night my mother took me in her arms. And she said, 'Tomorrow we all have to die.' And I thought, 'I don't want to die. I'll have to try to escape.'"

So that night, crawling through the grass, he snuck past Nazi soldiers and up to the top of a hill, and hid in a forest overlooking the village. "And when the daylight broke I heard a lot of commotion and noise below. When I looked down, I saw soldiers lining up people and shooting them in a big, big pit," Kurzem recalled. "And then I saw my mother with my brother and sister also there."

Kurzem told Simon he saw how his mother and siblings were lined up and shot. "That's very visible in my head all the time."

Village records say the Nazis massacred more than 1,600 people there on October 21, 1941; and Nazi records show that a Nazi battalion took Alex in on July 12, 1942.

The months in between are a mystery. Alex says all he remembers is wandering alone, cold and hungry in the forest. He took a winter coat off a dead soldier to keep from freezing to death. And he slept in empty sheds and in trees by tying himself to branches.

Asked why he decided to sleep in trees, Kurzem told Simon, "I heard wolves in the distance. And I knew that if the wolves find me asleep on the ground they would eat me most likely. So I got scared of that. So the only way to survive, climb a tree."

[proudmilvet]

Rush Limbaugh(Der Fuhrer)Dick Cheney(DR.Mengele)Ann Coulter(Eva Braun)Sean Hannity(Josef Goebbles,Minister of propaganda)Bill O'Reilly(Baron Von Stupid)GW Bush(Sgt.Shultz)Glenn Beck(One of the Katzenjammer kids)Newt Gingrich(Herr Goring)Karl Rove(Himmler)

[Im_N0t_0v3r]

This sounds strikingly similar to what happened to Solmon Perel and what was made into the move "Europa Europa" .

[Newster1]

I read this earlier and was horrified, do you know that this Sholom guy is trying to get the case moved or dropped completely? He states racism towards jews in Iowa as the reason. *** ARE YOU SERIOUS?

So let me get this straight, because you are a Jew in the US, you can play the holocaust card and just get a slap on the wrist?
Posted by anti-zion

Yeah and every photo but one I've seen of this idiot shows him with this all knowing self rightious smirk on his face- the one showing him handcuffed in the cop's car was absent his sickening smirk.

He had that smirk in a photo with the quote about how he had NO idea those 300 or 400 employees he had there were all illegals, and had NO idea they hired children illegally either.
He's an immigrant Russian piece of trash who came HERE to the USA with the other guy and opened this Sobibor style concentration camp for animals, where they all go in and NONE come out alive, again you'd think those 2 jews would distance themselves totally from such a thing, but not these 2!

[courlander]

I saw the interview and it exaggerated some of the claims in the book for I have read it. There was nothing "NAZI" about the soldiers who captured him. They were the 18th Kurzemes police Battalion drafted by the Germans to hunt partisans in that area and Alex did not live alone but with the partisans who also happened to be Jewish. Under Geneva rules armed partisans do not have the rights that soldiers have. The Russians in a 1960's show trial convicted several of the 18th Kurzemes soldier for the Solin massacre even though the unit was 130km away from that town that day.The only partisan chasing unit near the town was a Lithuanian one.
If anyone wants to get deeper there was a thread at
http://latviansonline.com/forum/viewthread/32934/ about the book

[Newster1]

"It is nice to be continually reminded of the atrocities of Hitler, a crazy man.
But then wonder why the Jews did not learn the lesson of . "

Oh yes, and don't forget the BIG news case of the arrest of two jews in the midwest who till the INS and feds raided- operated a "kosher" animal concentration camp where animals were routinely brutalized in violation of all ethics rules and guidelines for kosher meat, and as if that wasn't enough they knowingly employed HUNDREDS of illegals, as well as children under age and then paid them slave wages to work in this FILTHY plant that also failed tests for salmonella.

They are now facing criminal charges but Mr Rubashkin- one of the owners was quoted in the media as comparing his treatment by the law like Polish nazis did the jews! a fine one to talk given the animal concentration camp conditions HE subjected hundreds of thousands of animals!

Oct 30, 2008 ... First on the Iowa Independent: Federal prosecutors have arrested Sholom Rubashkin, former chief executive officer and vice president at Agriprocessors

Jun 3, 2008 ... Rubashkin Scandals Agriprocessors, the Rubashkin family's Postville, Iowa slaughterhouse,was found to be in violation of Humane Slaughter .

Rubashkin Failed 3 USDA Salmonella Testings ...
According to a report released by Food and Water Watch, Agriprocessors, Inc. the Postville, Iowa, producers of Aaron's Best, Rubashkin, and other kosher ...

Sholom Rubashkin, who was arrested on October 30, 2008 for harboring illegal aliens.[4] The firm filed for bankruptcy on November 5, 2008 following a series of alleged violations of labor law and repeated accusations of mistreatment of cattle.

In October 2008, the Iowa Labor Commission fined Agriprocessors $9.99 million for various violations of state labor law, including illegally deducting money from employees for safety equipment and failing to pay employees.

August 31, 2006. Agriprocessors paid a $600,000 fine for violating waste-water regulations

On September 9, 2008, Agriprocessors, its owner and three of its current or past managers were each charged with more than 9,000 violations of child labor laws.

January 2009, an additional 99 federal charges were filed against former CEO Sholom Rubashkin and three former managers for money laundering, making false statements, failing to make required payments for livestock, and 25 additional bank-fraud charges

[sean1z]

Alex survived Nazi attack on his village. Israel should a lesson. The murder of innocent Children are war crimes.

[neznative]

anti-zion You obviously didn't read the article! Or waht part of being passed off as a Russian orphan did you not catch? Many people don't circumsize their kids esspecially in pour nations. And if you were any kind of student of history you'd know that Eastern Europe at the times we're discussing here were extremly pour. Here's an idea foryou take a nice long trip through the Appalatian communities in the US and the destitution you see there is not even close to some of Eastern Europe even today.
As to claiming that the story is a fake is like that Bishop that just got kicked out of South America for denigning the Holocast's gas chambers. He should be put in chains and let around to see all the documentation films the Army made us watch about finding the death camps, the crematoriums and emaciated human beings. We were even given guided tours of the camps, As he should be still wearing the chains. Unfortunately the stentch of burned flesh is long since disappeared.
The only hope for you though is a rigorous education the maybe you'll learn some humillity

[barbaram99]

The nazis got their ideas from America. ,

[gaby888]

I can?t figure out who wrote this
?Story? Jack London or Edgar Rice Burroughs,
A 6 year old boy Tarzan with a selective memory (I am 78 and can remember my kindergarten teacher and every one in my class) running around in the dead of winter dragging a coat to heavy to carry and sleeping in trees?
No wonder holocaust deniers are growing by the 10?s of thousands!
Gaby888

[gaby888]

I can?t figure out who wrote this
?Story? Jack London or Edgar Rice Burroughs,
A 6 year old boy Tarzan with a selective memory (I am 78 and can remember my kindergarten teacher and every one in my class) running around in the dead of winter dragging a coat to heavy to carry and sleeping in trees?
No wonder holocaust deniers are growing by the 10?s of thousands!
Gaby888

[hinda39]

Apparently it is open season on Jews when even 60 Minutes that was started by Jews have turned into an open forum against common sense. If anyone has ever spoke with Holocaust Survivors or worked on the Shoah Project they would understand the plight of would do anything just to survive. The many tales told by Issac B. Singer as well as Elie Wiesel do not mean anything? They speak of survival. Yes there were people who would sacrifice others just to survive another day. Does that make all Jews wrong?

Look at the many deniers today. The facts of the Holocaust are being distorted by those very educators who have listened to the Alex Jones or read the Turner Diaries. Yet even the staff at CBS have failed to become like the late Edward R. Murrow who was not afraid of facing the deniers. There were many true books of facts that had come out in the thirty years since Hitler's demise -- one of the first one is called "The Black Book." This was given to all Jewish military personnel after WWII to prove the facts of Hitler's final solution. This book also documented how Jews, Handicapped, Gypsies, Political Prisoners, etc. were treated and segregated. Another was called "Der Faderland, Rest Well" which was printed in 1949 by a German who returned to the country of her birth -- with photographs of the Nazis and the German villages that were also under Nazi control and would ignore the stench of the crematoriums. Another book, "I Never Saw A Butterfly" - talks about coming of age in Auschwitz -- and how she marvelled at the freedom insects had but not knowing when they would go to the showers or be transported elsewhere.

To those who think Zionism is another form of Nazism, it is not- Moses was a zionist as he wanted to go to the Land of Milk and Honey. But I have this to ask you who hate Jews and Israel. Why would you want to destroy a people who have given so much to humanity yet appease those who murder their own children in the name of Honor and of their own beliefs? This is coming from a third generation American who's father was in Normandy and in WWII under Eisenhower, mother worked for the Army Signal Corps, brother in Vietnam (UN caused conflict), Uncle in both WWII and Korea (UN caused conflict), and who is an employee of the VA where I listen to veterans returning after witnessing a genocide made by people who hate life.

[Mr_Sundayschool]

No one would ever make up a story like this at a time when that whole "Angel at the Fence" thing has recently caused such a stir. Why would someone even think to make up such a story just to acheive nothing more than fame and fortune? What do they take us for - a bunch of naive, gullible idiots? It is very obvious that people who deny all these highly documented holocaust stories are anti-semites and Nazis and not just in the German army.

[puzzled8]

How long did you say the Jewish boy lived among Nazi boys without ever being seen naked?

[puzzled8]

How long did you say the Jewish boy Alex Kurzem lived among Nazi boys without ever being seen naked?

[fuzzybear9]

Hello America

I think its amazing, that they could come up with a,
childhood picture of
Bernard Madoff !

it is Madoff isn`t it?

well if the Nazis, were still around, they would know how to deal with the Madoffs of the World!

they wouldn`t be sitting in a plush apartment suite, serving jail time!

sincerely Fuzzy Bear

[musethalia]

I know much has changed in 60 yrs, but they did have a good portion of the luxuries we have today. One question we should ask is was he one of those that were exposed to these luxuries? If yes, then his story doesn''t seem right. If no, then his story is still a little more believable, but there are still lots of questions that need to answered.

Posted by Anti-Zion

define 'luxuries' please...my mother was born and raised in Germany but remembers more of the war torn/bombed cities, not luxury!

[crzmeat1]

This is true but he was a mascot not the leader of a fighting brigade you can't blame him he just wanted to live like the rest of us and the germans weren't foaming at the mouth he had a chance took it if not he would have died..It was 65 years ago let it go but was a great story we are so lucky to have never had to function in those circumstances.

[jamster31]

Imma call his bluff, I say he is lying.


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Posted by Anti-Zion at 03:13 PM : Feb 23, 2009

The article says he begged for food from farmers. He slept in trees and sheds. I think it's very possible. From your log-in name it sounds as though you wouldn't want to hear anything positive about a jew. I have no special feelings for jews above anyone else but i do like fairness. I do believe they are stereo typed and like this boy, they have a huge will to survive because half the world wants them dead. from your post I believe you're one of the ones that, to put it mildly, not wish them well.

[mitdgreenb]

Anti-Zion -- I think it's a fair criticism to doubt that a 6-yr old survived a European winter by himself. No American child I've met could. (I'm doubtful most American teenagers could.) But it's worth being careful: it was a different time. without a modern supermarket, he would have known how to gather some food (e.g., mushrooms, berries) from the woods. He was in the woods, but able to beg for food, so he was not completely isolated. He can't remember his birthday, so perhaps he was slightly older. (That's weak, I know, but a malnourished child can appear a lot younger.) Etc. Travel some time to poor parts of the world and you will be amazed at the resourcefulness of street kids.

And, it's possible that hundreds of children faced the same odds and he was one of the very few lucky enough to beat those odds. (There's a sampling bias because we know 100% of the ones who survived and 0% of those who did not.)

That said, I repeat that you make a fair criticism. Just be careful to make it within the context of this person, unbiased by what you think a modern American kid could (or could not) do.

[mitdgreenb]

Andrew -- amen. Belarus has a long and storied history of antisemitism which continues into the present.

NY View -- you attempt to make a good point. However, there is a relatively obvious flaw in your logic. Specifically, the story says he joined as mascot in 1942, but it does not say that the photo is from 1942. In fact, the photo may be from 1943 and/or a still from the propaganda film mentioned in the story. Further, the story cites town records... records kept proudly by the antisemitic Belarussians... that show that 1600 people were killed there. Do you doubt these records too? Do you doubt the meticulous records that the Nazis themselves kept?