Harry detention

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Harry Haft (born July 28, 1925 in Bełchatów , Poland ; † November 3, 2007 ; originally Hercka Haft , also Hertzko Haft , later Herschel Haft ; after the Second World War possibly also temporarily Moses Friedler ) was a professional boxer and survivor of the concentration camp Auschwitz .

Life

At the age of 14, Harry Haft experienced the invasion of the Wehrmacht in Poland in September 1939 . Two years later, because he was Jewish, he was deported to Auschwitz . Because of his sturdy stature, an SS guard trained him to be a boxer there, and he had to take part in exhibition fights - literally - for life and death in front of the guards: the loser was immediately murdered by the National Socialists . The fighting took place in the Jaworzno concentration camp , which was located in a coal mine north of Auschwitz. After 76 fights in this concentration camp , the camp in Jaworzno was closed because of the advancing Red Army and the prisoners were sent on death marches . It was not until April 1945 that prisoners managed to escape. In the process he killed an SS officer and appropriated his uniform and papers. For fear of being betrayed, he also shot the two elderly people who later gave him shelter.

In 1948 Harry Haft emigrated to the USA with the help of an uncle . Here he earned his living as a prize boxer, this time in mafia- controlled exhibition fights, including against Rocky Marciano . As a professional boxer, he played 22 fights, of which he won 14.

His eldest son, Alan Scott, was born in 1950. Harry Haft entrusted him with his life story shortly before his death, which was published in the USA in 2006 with the help of specialist historians John Radzilowski and Mike Silver . The German translation One day I'll tell everything was published in 2009 by the Göttingen publishing house Die Werkstatt.

In April 2007, Detention was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame .

reception

On the basis of Haft's life story, Reinhard Kleist designed a serial comic that was published in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung from April to September 2011 and was published as an album edition in May 2012 by Carlsen Verlag in Hamburg.

This graphic novel was developed into a live performance by the Theater Augsburg in cooperation with the Junge Theater Augsburg. The premiere of the world premiere was on November 8, 2015, in which Sebastian Baumgart took on the role of speaker.

literature

Web link

Individual evidence

  1. a b Benjamin Knaack: Boxing for life and death . one day on June 9, 2009, accessed on November 27, 2009.
  2. Harry Haft . Boxrec Encyclopaedia , accessed November 27, 2009
  3. ^ Johanna Herzing: Ko in the concentration camp . Deutschlandfunk dated May 10, 2009, accessed on November 27, 2009.
  4. Harry Haft in the BoxRec database, accessed on November 27, 2009 (English)
  5. Inductee Details, Harry Haft ( Memento from February 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on November 27, 2009 (English)
  6. Sequel comic The Boxer
  7. Review of the Carlsen album on ComicRadioShow.com Der Boxer
  8. The boxer. The true story of Hertzko Haft ( Memento of the original from January 18, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the Theater Augsburg @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theater-augsburg.de