Ilya Galperin was a five year old Jewish boy who lived through a scary war story. In 1941, he witnessed Nazi soldiers massacre his mother and siblings in Belarus. To escape, he ran into a cold forest. He survived eating berries and stealing clothes from the bodies of the dead. He was found by Latvian soldiers in the woods later.
Most people died immediately in that case. Before the shooting began, Ilya had asked one of the soldiers for a piece of bread. The soldier took pity on him and asked Ilya to hide his Jewish identity. Ilya changed his name to Alex Kurzem in order to be safe. He impersonated a Russian orphan. The soldiers took him in as a mascot for the unit.
The men gave Alex a little uniform with a small gun. Alex spent his childhood cleaning the boots of the men who killed his people. He was used by Nazi leaders in propaganda movies. They called him the youngest Nazi to make the army look good. The boy distributed candies to the Jewish families in train stations. This ceased the people from feeling scared before they went to camps.
Alex relocated to Australia when the war ended. He kept his secret for over fifty years. His own family did not know the truth until 1997. He told the world he did this to keep himself alive. The story reflects the evil choices a child had to make during the war.
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