The Horse Adjutant: A Boy's Life during the Nazi Holocaust

by Stephen Shooster, Stephen Shooster, Jim Boring (Editor)

The Horse Adjutant is the Nazi wartime story of a twelve-year-old Jewish boy named Leon Schagrin. Growing up in a world steeped in Jewish mysticism he was given a blessing at a young age pronouncing he would outlive everyone. Then the war came and Leon's family, four sisters and a baby brother, along with his father and mother, 200 cousins and the entire region of Southern Poland were sent to the extermination camp at Belzec where over 600,000 Jews were killed in a single year! Leon was at a work camp when his town was evacuated and eventually found himself inside the ghetto Tarnow. He survived as a carriage driver where he drove many of the SS officers and their commandant. As a driver, he was a witness to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Surviving many deadly selections, he witnessed the final extermination of the ghetto and was forced to help clean up what was left. Towards the end of the action, he was forced to go into a mass grave and look for anything of value. It was unlikely he would escape, but he did. His story is filled with dramatic instances of degradation, humanity and the kindness of strangers that kept him alive.

Genres: Memoir

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 24, 2011

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This true account of Leon Schagrin’s struggle to survive after the Nazi’s took over Poland is more than heartbreaking; it is gut-wrenching, It is so immediate and real that I found it hard to read much of the book at a time.

Leon was just 12-years old when the German Nazis took over Grybow, his hometown. He survived, whereas the rest of his family was exterminated at the Belzec concentration camp.

Leon survived not only because he was skilled at taking care of the Nazis’ horses. He survived because of the acts of kindness of a few people who had the courage to do what was right.

The story is incredible, brutal, disturbing, and very moving. Although I had read many accounts of the Holocaust, previously, this book made a lasting impression on me.