Why read The Mascot?

Book cover of The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood

Book description

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…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Mascot as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Susan J. Eischeid

Author

This book, based on a true story, absolutely blew my mind when I first read it, and I have re-read it multiple times since!

I am still overwhelmed by the sheer fact of survival of the main character, a young Jewish boy who survived a massacre in the Holocaust and then went into hiding as a mascot in the SS. I also identified strongly with his son, who researched and wrote the book and encountered frequent naysayers who questioned the validity of his father’s memories. As someone who has approached the Holocaust as a non-traditional writer, I have struggled with…

From Susan's list on The best Holocaust books exploring the precious lives lost as well as the complicated legacies of survival and culpability.