#11: ‘The Boxer’ by Reinhard Kleist

‘The Boxer’ by Reinhard Kleist is a non-fiction graphic novel, telling the story of Holocaust survivor Hertzko ‘Harry’ Haft.

I haven’t read many graphic novels before as I find the mixture of text and detailed images a little overwhelming – as embarrassing as this is to admit, with children regularly coping with far more complicated comic strips, but here we are!

The book tells the story of ‘Harry’s’ life in Poland leading up to the Nazi invasion, and his subsequent internment in a number of labour camps before finally escaping and eventually making his way to New York, where he embarked on a professional boxing career.

At first I was dubious as to whether the subject matter was too heavy to be dealt with justly in this format, but I was really pleasantly surprised with the monochrome images, which lend themselves to the horrific memories that ‘Harry’ eventually shared with his son Alan. Particularly harrowing are the sections relating to ‘Harry’ and other prisoners being forced to fight in the camps, with the loser often losing his life in the match or being executed shortly after. As with all books I enjoy the most, this one has encouraged me to do further research into the sporting and boxing activities held at the camps.

If ‘Harry’s’ life is of more interest to you, then you can also read a more standard biography written by his son and published in 2002 – ‘Harry Haft: Auschwitz Survivor, Challenger of Rocky Marciano’.