250:, a visiting Kurzem offered to pay $ 17,000 to say he was Jewish. 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.
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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
253:
Kurzem has received reparations from the Jewish Claims
Conference as a victim of Nazi persecution. 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
187:
of a
Latvian police battalion after begging for bread and making the drunken soldiers laugh. 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
257:
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
264:, 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.
222:. He had three sons with his wife Patricia (died 2003). All the time, he kept his past life to himself, not even telling his wife or children. It was not until 1997 that he finally told his family, and along with his son, Mark, set about discovering more about his past.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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document into
English, the original document has never been supplied. No records of an Ilya Galpern/Halperin nor his mother exist, although records of other Galperin family members murdered in the town do.
119:. However, the authenticity of his account has been called into question at several points. When put under further scrutiny by the Jewish-American scholars and asked to prove his survivor's tale by taking a
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memoir which has led to a financial windfall in the early 21st century. He was the subject of a television documentary and a best-selling book by his son, translated into 13 languages; both entitled
287:, 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.
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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.
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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
276:. 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.
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179:, returning to Dzyarzhynsk after the war. He remarried, and, according to his newly born son, died in 1975 without ever knowing that his eldest son had survived.
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163:. On October 21, 1941, Gildenberg and her son Duvid and daughter were murdered along with approximately 1,600 other Jews in Koidanova (now
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facing almost certain defeat, and after trying to escape the unit in the
Wolichow marshes, the commander of the Latvian
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Yiddish pronounced Shloimeh Halpern) and Chana Gildenberg (the Hassidic Yiddish pronunciation of Goldenberg), who were
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238:, which tells the same story. It was reported his story has inspired a full-length Hollywood feature film.
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https://web.archive.org/web/20101127223923/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hiu_S9WJWGSqNpE_BWgOVMEy3tfA
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http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/nothing-to-hide-holocaust-survivor/story-fn7x8me2-1226059229104
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as allegedly falsified but eventually admitted: "I might be anybody, but I have got no proof who I am."
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Battalion 18, who witnessed the massacre of his Jewish mother as a five-year-old boy and subsequently
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In 2002, Kurzem's son Mark (died 2010) wrote and produced a documentary (with Lina Caneva) entitled
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mascot, including at least one newsreel. Kurzem says that on one occasion his commanding officer,
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persecution. On September 21, 2012, Dan Goldman, a reporter for Israel's daily newspaper
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According to the story, Alex Kurzem is the former boy mascot (hence the book title) of a
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Michigan War Studies Review - book reviews, literature surveys, essays, and commentary.
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78:(18 November 1933 – 31 January 2022) was an Australian pensioner originally from the
507:"Genetic Genealogy Confirms Story of Alex Kurzem, the Nazi’s Little Jewish ‘Mascot’"
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test, Kurzem refused. He also dismissed out of hand the archival records of the
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unit sent Kurzem to live with a Latvian family, and with them was removed to a
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Throughout his childhood, Kurzem appeared in Nazi propaganda media as an
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pronunciation of Elija, and that his parents were Solomon Galperin (in
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The Mascot, Unravelling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood
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The Mascot, Unravelling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood
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423:"Holocaust Survivor in Australia Faces Questions of Authenticity"
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for at least 18 months, and; that his life had been in danger".
171:). Solomon Galperin escaped extermination and joined a group of
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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/04/07/1081222527300.html
678:"Did a Jewish orphan really become Hitler's youngest recruit?"
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617:"'Reich's youngest Nazi' investigated over Holocaust 'lies'"
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653:"KURZEMNIEKS, Alex (Uldis) | Funeral Notices | Melbourne"
640:"Compensation claim upheld as Holocaust story believed"
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Mark Kurzem obituary | From the Guardian | The Guardian
437:"Australian man's Holocaust story labelled a 'lie'"
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530:, some reiterated in several televised interviews.
708:(Australian documentary for ABC television, 2002)
279:In 2019 Kurzem undertook a DNA test and in 2020,
572:"Alex Kurzem - making peace with Ilya Galperin"
781:Australian people of Belarusian-Jewish descent
352:Hannah: From Dachau to the Olympics and Beyond
736:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6945847.stm
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303:, on 31 January 2022, at the age of 88.
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318:Misha: A Mémoire of the Holocaust Years
202:In 1944, according to Kurzem, with the
80:Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
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786:Australian people of Latvian descent
594:. J-Wire. 2012-09-16. Archived from
526:All according to Mark Kurzem's book
492:"Nothing to Hide Holocaust Survivor"
592:""The Mascot" – Truth or Fiction?"
175:. He was later caught and sent to
111:. Kurzem maintained that he was a
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384:The Man who Broke into Auschwitz
704:Mark Kurzem & Lina Caneva,
283:concluded that Kurzem is 100%
138:concluded that Kurzem is 100%
1:
439:. The Jewish Chronicle Online
134:In 2020, genetic genealogist
676:Goldberg, Dan (2024-01-31).
435:Dan Goldberg (2012-09-27).
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682:The Sydney Morning Herald
329:Au nom de tous les miens
642:| Herald Sun. Victoria.
494:| Herald Sun. Victoria.
801:People from Melbourne
363:Memorias del infierno
550:Mark Kurzem (2002).
463:Christopher Martin,
391:Binjamin Wilkomirski
796:Holocaust survivors
248:Colleen Fitzpatrick
136:Colleen Fitzpatrick
129:Stanford University
76:Alex (Uldis) Kurzem
340:Angel at the Fence
125:Hoover Institution
113:Holocaust survivor
212:displaced persons
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66:Holocaust memoir
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49:(2022-01-31)
771:2022 deaths
766:1936 births
751:cbsnews.com
657:My Tributes
359:Enric Marco
325:Martin Grey
281:Fitzpatrick
274:Kārlis Lobe
242:Controversy
197:Karlis Lobe
165:Dzyarzhynsk
57:, Australia
23:Alex Kurzem
760:Categories
713:The Mascot
706:The Mascot
687:2024-02-01
662:2024-02-01
626:2023-12-13
602:2013-02-14
528:The Mascot
479:Australia.
443:2013-02-14
402:References
379:Denis Avey
232:The Mascot
88:The Mascot
68:The Mascot
35:1933-11-18
395:Fragments
301:Melbourne
220:Melbourne
177:Auschwitz
146:Biography
109:Australia
105:emigrated
84:Holocaust
55:Melbourne
307:See also
297:COVID-19
214:camp in
185:sergeant
157:Hassidic
397:, 1995)
387:, 2011)
375:, 1995)
365:, 1978)
355:, 2005)
321:, 1997)
261:Haaretz
216:Hamburg
169:Belarus
153:Yiddish
117:Belarus
97:police
95:Latvian
715:(2007)
558:
373:Stoker
161:Jewish
291:Death
226:Media
204:Nazis
193:Aryan
115:from
556:ISBN
44:Died
29:Born
299:in
127:at
121:DNA
107:to
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