10 Tragic Details Surrounding Jewish Boxer Harry Haft, Who Fought For His Life During The Holocaust

6 /10 Killing An SS

Harry killed an SS following the escape using the officer’s handgun. First, he tried to kill the bathing officer using a rifle; not only did it fail, but the attempt also revealed his location.

Harry fired multiple shots using a handgun as the officer ran out of the river.

Filled with rage and desperation, Harry emptied the chamber and then pulverized the officer’s head using the butt-stock of the rifle. He put on the officer’s eye patch and uniform, disguising himself as a Nazi.

5 /10 Prizefighter

Harry fought at least three opponents every Sunday for months during his concentration camp.

Using his extensive experience in dozens of live-or-death Fight-Club-style boxing matches, he became a prizefighter. He had a 13-8 boxing record – not entirely impressive but an outstanding achievement of a survivor nonetheless.

His last match as a professional boxer was on July 18, 1949, against Rocky Marciano, and Harry lost that match in Round 3. Rumors had it that the mafia was somehow involved in making his defeat a certainty.

4 /10 Life Of Regrets

After the defeat, Harry never fought as a professional boxer anymore. When inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, he was asked whether he had any regrets.

He looked at his giant fists and said his regrets were the lives taken by his hands.

He did not kill anybody in the concentration camp, but the guards ultimately executed every single person he defeated. A win was a kill for the Nazi, whereas a defeat was death for the prisoner.

3 /10 Cannibalism

Fighting in the camp was far from the worst experience and sending his fellow prisoners to death after every win was traumatizing.

When he was not fighting, there were always some corpses for him to shovel into the ovens. During his time in Flossenburg, he and his brother were often locked in a barrack with other starving prisoners.

The hunger was too much to bear to the point where some prisoners resorted to cannibalism. Harry survived those nights by pretending to be sleeping.

2 /10 The Survivor

Alan Haft chronicled his father’s life in the book “Harry Haft: Survivor of Auschwitz, Challenger of Rocky Marciano,” published in 2006.

Reinhard Kleist, a German cartoonist, adapted the text into a graphic novel. The 2021 film “The Survivor” also was based on the book.

Directed by Barry Levinson, filming was finished in 2019, starring Ben Foster as Harry Haft.

It premiered in September 2021 at the Toronto International Film Festival. HBO acquired the distribution rights and debuted it in April 2022 in the United States.

1 /10 A Taboo Subject

According to Alan, filmmakers at some point considered putting a cannibalism scene in the movie, although the idea was eventually scrapped.

Alan thought the cannibalism scene should have been included. Not many Holocaust survivors talked about it, ever. A background to depict the gruesome reality probably would have encouraged others to speak up.

Harry and Alan wanted the world to know how extreme hunger and inhumane circumstances could force people to do the unthinkable. Harry Haft died of cancer in November 2007 at the age of 82.