Originally published in 2006 as part of the "Religion, theology, and the Holocaust" monographic series. "Now a major motion picture" -- front cover.
Contents:
Introduction -- Born lucky -- Occupation -- Captured -- Lost hope -- Beating -- Jew animal -- Cannibals -- Escape -- Whorehouse -- Heavyweight champion -- Uncle Sam -- Training -- Harlem -- Washington, D.C. -- Career bouts -- Training for Marciano -- Fighting rocky -- Moving on -- Finding Leah.
Summary:
Alan Scott Haft provides the firsthand testimony of his father, Harry Haft, a Holocaust victim with a singular story of endurance, desperation, and unrequited love. Harry Haft was a sixteen-year-old Polish Jew when he entered a concentration camp in 1944. Forced to fight other Jews in bare-knuckle bouts for the perverse entertainment of SS officers, Harry quickly learned that his own survival depended on his ability to fight and win. Haft details the inhumanity of the "sport" in which he must perform in brutal contests for the officers. Ultimately escaping the camp, Haft's experience left him an embittered and pugnacious young man. Determined to find freedom, Haft traveled to America and began a career as a professional boxer, quickly finding success using his sharp instincts and fierce confidence. In a historic battle, Haft fights in a match with Rocky Marciano, the future undefeated heavyweight champion of the world. Haft's boxing career takes him into the world of such boxing legends as Rocky Graziano, Roland LaStarza, and Artie Levine, and he reveals new details about the rampant corruption at all levels of the sport. -- Adapted from publisher description.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.