The Mascot

The MascotCondition: BRAND NEW ISBN: 9780143007777 Format: B format paperback Year: 2009 Publisher: Penguin Australia Pty Ltd Description: 'A powerful book . . . revealing his father's remarkable and horrific story' Sunday Telegraph One summer's day in 1997, Mark Kurzem returned home to find his father on his doorstep. Alex Kurzem had travelled halfway round the world to reveal a long kept secret, and now wanted his son's help to piece together his past and his

Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780143007777
Format: B-format paperback
Year: 2009
Publisher: Penguin Australia Pty Ltd


Description:
'A powerful book . . . revealing his father's remarkable and horrific story' Sunday Telegraph




One summer's day in 1997, Mark Kurzem returned home to find his father on his doorstep. Alex Kurzem had travelled halfway round the world to reveal a long-kept secret, and now wanted his son's help to piece together his past and his identity.




As a five-year-old during the Second World War, Alex Kurzem had watched from a tree as his entire village, including his family, were murdered by a German-led execution squad. He scavenged in the forests of Russia for several months before falling into the hands of a Latvian SS company. After one soldier discovered this young boy was actually Jewish, Alex was made to promise never to reveal his true identity - to forget his old life, his family, and even his name. The young boy became the company's mascot and part of the Nazi propaganda machine responsible for killing his own people.




After the war Alex was adopted and his new family made a home in Australia, far from the sites of wartime atrocities. But after fifty years of holding onto this childhood secret, Alex needed to discover and share the astonishing truth about his past.