Europa Europa

Jesse Walker | August 21, 2007

The BBC tells the tale of Alex Kurzem, a little boy who became the mascot of the SS during World War II:

"They gave me little jobs to do - to polish shoes, carry water or light a fire. But my main job was to entertain the soldiers. To make them feel a bit happier."

In newsreels, he was paraded as 'the Reich's youngest Nazi' and he witnessed some unspeakable atrocities.

But his SS masters never discovered the most essential detail about his life: their little Nazi mascot was Jewish.

"They didn't know that I was a Jewish boy who had escaped a Nazi death squad. They thought I was a Russian orphan."

Whole story here.

(Hat tip: Dave Rahbari.)