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A Jewish Nazi? Just reading the title with those two incompatible words, and one can see why this book has been published and pushed. If you think you've heard all the stories involving World War II, well clearly you haven't. Of course we will never know all of them, but in this new memoir by Mark Kurzem, he describes his young father's life during the war and how a Jewish boy went from being, in a sense, target practice for the Nazis to becoming one of them. If it sounds far-fetched, the author actually describes how some of his father's story was not believed by historians, and, therefore, was thought to have been fabricated or at least highly exaggerated due to the young age his father would have been when it all happened. But more on that later.

The book opens with a reunion between Mark Kurzem and his father, Alex, and from there we get into how this all began. Alex's parents were actually shot by the Nazi's, and Alex - only then to almost suffer the same fate as his parents - begs a soldier for a piece of bread. The Nazi actually takes pity on him, and pulls him aside, giving him the bread. Then, for reasons that are unclear, (after all, one cannot know why Nazis would spare some lives and punish others) the soldier spares his life. The beginning moves rather quickly, for young Alex is then forced to wander the winter woods as he searches for food and steals clothes off dead soldiers. Surviving the Russian winter - Kurzem then later details how several historians did not believe a young boy could survive the brutal treatment of winter: very limited food and clothes coupled with the extreme cold.

Later, the boy is discovered by the Nazi police, and not knowing that the boy is Jewish, they assume he is Russian and grant him the name Uldis Kurzemnieks. Deciding to use him as a "mascot" they dress him in a corporal uniform where he is forced to witness the same atrocities bestowed upon his parents. And because the boy is terrified for his own life, he keeps himself quiet and knows to "keep his pants on" at all times, so no one will discover he is Jewish. Likewise, the boy goes along with the secret so well that he eventually stars in a Nazi propaganda film. Throughout the book there are photos of young Alex in uniform, as well as stills from the Nazi film he was in.

Overall, this book reads more like a historical mystery than an actual memoir about the man in question. And perhaps that is why the reviews have been so favorable. The book would have actually

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