MARK KURZEM

Mark, un australiano hijo de emigrantes letones, tras una extraña visita de su padre a Oxford, se verá involucrado conjuntamente con él en resolver el misterio de la vida de su padre previa a emigrar a Australia, cuando era todavia un niño, y como los hechos que acontecieron durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial marcaron la vida pasada, presente y futura del padre. El padre de Mark, que durante la guerra era un niño de 5 años, huyo de la masacre que hubo en su pueblo originario de Letonia, en el que mataron a su madre y a sus dos hermanos. Despues fue recogido por las brigadas nazis letonas y vivira con ellas innumerables experiencias del Holocausto. Se convierte entonces en la mascota del 18º batallon e ira con ellos durante toda la guerra, hasta que va a vivir con la familia Deznis, a la que nunca se acostumbro, pero que termina siendo su unico lazo con la realidad. Tras emigrar con ellos a Australia y establecerse alli, y despues de 50 años, decidira que quiere saber quien era, aunque sus recuerdos son muy vagos. Su principal recuerdo son las palabras Panok y Koidanov. Pero nadie quiere que descubra sus origenes, ni la asociacion australiana judia de damnificados del Holocausto, ni sus compañeros emigrantes de Letonia. Solo con la ayuda de su hijo descubrira su pasado

Part thriller, part psychological drama, part puzzle with a strange twist, The Mascot is one of the most astonishing stories to emerge from the Second World War. It tells the remarkable true story of how Alex Kurzem unravelled the shocking secrets of his wartime past. With the support of Mark, his son, Alex began to recall how he evaded the German-led execution squad that decimated his village, but witnessed the murder of his Jewish mother and siblings. He scavenged amongst the trees and protected himself from wolves, before falling into the hands of a Latvian police battalion. The soldiers adopted him as their mascot and Alex accompanied the unit everywhere as it changed its identity and duties to those of an SS unit on the rampage. He even appeared in Nazi propaganda films and newspaper articles, riding into Riga in a military parade... yet he was Jewish.At the age of five, was Alex Kurzem a collaborator or just a lost little boy? Caught up in a world of war-crime hunters, former war criminals and security agents with unclear agendas, he has since been threatened by many who believe he has betrayed them.

The "spellbinding" (The New York Times) true story of a Jewish boy who became the darling of the Nazis When a Nazi death squad massacred his mother and fellow villagers, five-year-old Alex Kurzem escaped, hiding in the freezing Russian forest until he was picked up by a group of Latvian SS soldiers. Alex was able to hide his Jewish identity and win over the soldiers, becoming their mascot and an honorary "corporal" in the SS with his own uniform. But what began as a desperate bid for survival became a performance that delighted the highest ranks of the Nazi elite. And so a young Jewish boy ended up starring in a Nazi propaganda film. After sixty-three years of silence, Alex revealed his terrible secret to his son Mark. With his sons help, Alex retraced his past in search of answers and vindication. His story is at once a terrifying account of survival and its psychological cost as well as a brutally honest examination of identity, complicity, and memory.