Alex Kurzem had an incredibly traumatic childhood. He was only 5 years old when Nazi soldiers lined up his parents and fellow villagers, shot them and threw them into a mass grave. Alex escaped to the frozen Belorussian forest for six months until he was picked up by the 18th Kurzeme Latvian Police Battalion. Hiding his Jewish identity, Alex won over the soldiers, becoming an honorary member of their unit, complete with a tiny uniform. Eventually, the small Jewish boy would come to star in a Nazi propaganda film. At least, that’s Alex’s account of how he grew up.
The now-85-year-old first recounted the chilling tale of his youth to his son Mark some 20 years ago. Mark went on to produce a documentary about his father, as well as the best-selling book, “The Mascot: Unraveling the Mystery of My Jewish Father's Nazi Boyhood.” The success of the book was quickly overshadowed as Alex’s tale was dissected over and over, eventually considered to be fraudulent by many in the community, including those that shared his own Jewish heritage.
But after 11 long years, genetic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick has provided DNA evidence that Alex is in fact Jewish, from Koidanov, Belarus as he said, and is very closely related to a Jewish family currently living in Canada.
“We can never get proof that he watched his family get murdered but it is historical fact that he was picked up in a forest. And now we know he is Jewish and from Koidanov. To me, that gives credibility to the rest of his story," said renowned genealogist Fitzpatrick, who has previously exposed two stories from unrelated Holocaust survivors as fraudulent.
Research, DNA and a photograph
In February 2009, Fitzpatrick was introduced to the story by Barry Resnick after Resnick saw Kurzem interviewed on CBS’s 60 Minutes and his preliminary research made him doubt aspects of the story. With two previous Holocaust frauds under her belt, Fitzpatrick knew where to look and figured she could get this one done pretty quickly too—whether it was true or not. It may have taken 11 years, extensive research in dozens of countries, multiple languages and translations, a lot of dead ends and pricey international 3 a.m. phone calls but their work is almost done, and it has a happier ending than beginning.
Through a DNA sample sent to Ancestry®, Fitzpatrick determined Alex was indeed Jewish and furthermore revealed several close cousins alive and well in Canada who originated from around Koidanov.
Remarkably, cousins Lindy Sulsky Meshwork and Leon Ejdelman were able to shed even more light on the woe of Alex’s childhood. They shared old family photos from the early 1930s that were sent to them from relatives in Belarus, which borders Latvia to the southeast. One photo shows a man and a boy who looks identical to Alex as a child, while a second shows the same little boy and a younger sister. A third photo shows an extended family of seven.
According to Fitzpatrick, there is a possibility the people in the photo are Alex’s biological family—his father, mother, older brother and older sister, who are all presumed to have been murdered in the Koidanov massacre. The photo dates back to about 1930, so it was most likely taken about 5 years before Alex was born. Fitzpatrick said they are waiting on the results of a final mitochondrial DNA test that will hopefully expose more details.
“If the mitochondrial test is negative, the man standing in the picture is Alex’s father. If it’s positive, it’s two other positions in the tree. The man in the photograph may be Alex’s mother’s brother, or Alex’s first cousin who is tied to Alex’s grandmother’s sister,” Fitzpatrick explained to Forensic.
Fitzpatrick has already determined Alex is connected to his cousins through a female link in his family tree, a fact that made research even more difficult as records pre-1915 focused primarily on male family members. Fitzpatrick has not had a chance to search for records beyond 1930, including Alex’s birth record. She’s been told time they were destroyed during the war.
Thus, there was no way to find the relation between Alex and his cousins without DNA and a genealogy search. In fact, the connection wouldn’t have even been possible a few years ago. One of Alex’s cousins in Toronto received an Ancestry DNA kit for his birthday in 2017—meaning the DNA that ultimately proved Alex’s history has been in the database for only 3 years.
“We live in an amazing world where a Holocaust survivor living in Australia can be reunited with his family in Canada by genealogist living in California thanks to their common genetic roots in Belarus,” said Fitzpatrick.
A new family unit
The results from the mitochondrial DNA test should come in soon. Until then, it’s more waiting for Alex, albeit with family members he was almost robbed of the chance to know.
“The majority of our families perished in WWII so having found Alex and his relatives is a once in a
lifetime miracle,” said cousins Sulsky Meshwork and Leon Ejdelman. “We welcome them into our family with open arms. To honor the memory of our lost families, it is our respective responsibilities to fight anti-Semitism, racism and extremist views. History will judge us if we don’t try.”
Kurzem and his new family hope to meet in person as soon as the pandemic allows them to travel.
Fitzpatrick has solved a number of high-profile cases in her career, returning identities to people and families who have been waiting far too long. Still, this—the longest case she’s ever worked on—felt unique.
“A story like this is really different,” she said. “We can lose sight of that with all the cold cases and homicides. In spite of DNA being the thing that does the trick, the research is invaluable.”
Photo: The cover of Mark Kurzem's book, "The Mascot." Credit: Amazon.com