Harry Haft (also known as Herschel Haft; born Hertzko or Hertzka Haft on 28 July 1925 in Bełchatów, Poland;[1][2] died 3 November 2007) was a survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp where he boxed fellow inmates to survive. He was briefly a professional boxer in post-war Germany, and boxed as a light heavyweight in the United States from 1948–1949.[3]
Early life
Born in Bełchatów, Poland on 28 July 1925, Haft's father died when he was three years old. In 1939, when he was 14, Haft witnessed the invasion and German occupation of Poland. Under Nazi occupation, he ran a smuggling business with his older brother.
Deportation to Auschwitz
By 1942, because he was Jewish, Haft was imprisoned in several German-Nazi slave labor camps where he was beaten and starved. Because of his strong physical stature, by 1943 an SS overseer trained him to be a boxer, and had him compete at fights to the death in front of the military personnel. The fights took place at the concentration camp Jaworzno, which was situated at a coal mine north of Auschwitz. Haft fought a total of 76 fights there. When the camp in Jaworzno was dissolved because of the advancing Soviet Red Army, thousands of its surviving inmates were sent West on death marches to Germany. Haft managed to escape from one such march in April 1945. On the run, he killed a bathing German soldier and donned his uniform. During the remaining weeks until the end of the war, he moved from village to village. At one point he killed two elderly people who harbored him on their farm because he feared they had discovered he was not a German soldier and would turn him in to authorities.[1][4]
Displaced Person's Camp refugee, 1945–1947
In 1945, Haft found refuge in a Displaced Person's Camp operated by the U.S. Army in occupied Germany. In January 1947, he won an "Amateur Jewish Heavyweight Championship" organized by the US army in post-war Munich, receiving a trophy by General Lucius Clay.[5][4]
Brief boxing career in America
In 1948, aged 22, he emigrated to the US with the help of an uncle in New Jersey. There he made his living by competing as a light heavyweight prizefighter during 1948 to 1949. Haft's professional record comprises 21 fights, of a total of 104 rounds, with 13 wins (8 by KO) and 8 losses (5 by KO). His height was recorded as 5′ 9″ (175 cm), and his weight as between 168 and 180 lb.[2] He won his first twelve fights, but lost against a more experienced boxer, Irish-born Pat O'Connor in Westchester County Center on 5 January 1949. O'Connor had previously held Irish National light heavy and middleweight championships.[6]
He had a convincing win on 14 January 1949 in Binghamton, New York, 1:14 into the first of six rounds, when he scored a knockout, with a right cross that broke the jaw of his opponent Billy Kilby.[7] On 30 May 1949, though outweighed by 14 pounds, he defeated Johnny Pretzie in Brooklyn in a technical knockout, 2:38 into the fourth round. Pretzie was a strong puncher with an impressive knockout record, who had met Rocky Marciano only two months earlier.[8][3]
After this win, his record, which had included only two wins since his loss to O'Connor, continued a turn for the worse. He lost to New Yorker Roland LaStarza on 27 June 1949 in a 4th-round TKO at Brooklyn's Coney Island. LaStarza was undefeated, had an exceptional record of 33 wins, and had taken several Golden Gloves light heavyweight championships in 1944-5. In 1953, LaStarza would challenge Rocky Marciano in a close fight for the World heavyweight championship.[9] Haft's final fight was against future champion Rocky Marciano, on 18 July 1949 in Rhode Island Auditorium, in what was Marciano's 18th professional fight. Haft made a good showing in the first round, landing a blow to Marciano's stomach that was the bout's first punch, and went blow for blow in the first minute of the second, but was knocked out by Marciano in the first half of the third round after receiving a flurry of punches.[3] In his biography, Haft claimed that he was threatened by the Mafia and forced to throw the fight against Marciano.
While looking for work in New York City after the war, Haft experienced an incident of anti-Semitic hostility from a potential employer. The employer, a man known as Mr. T., told Harry that he wouldn't hire Jews and demanded that he leave. Haft was shocked and hurt by the discrimination leveled at him, and he realized that America was not the safe haven from prejudice and discrimination that he once thought it was.
Marriage and boxing retirement
After his loss to Marciano, Haft retired. He married Miriam Wofsoniker in November 1949 and opened a fruit and vegetable store in Brooklyn. His eldest son, Alan Scott, was born in 1950, followed by a daughter and another son.
In April 2007, Haft was inducted into the National Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[10] He died of cancer, in November of the same year, in Pembroke Pines, Florida, at the age of 82.
Legacy
Haft told his life's story to his son Alan Scott in 2003, who edited and published it in 2006, with contributions from historians John Radzilowski and Mike Silver. On the basis of the published biography, Reinhard Kleist created a graphic novel, which was published sequentially in the German periodical Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung during 2011.[11] The book was nominated for a 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel.[12]
2 Wins, 3 Losses
Result
Opponent(s)
Date
Location
Duration
Notes
Loss
Pat O'Connor
5 Jan 1949
White Plains, NY
8 Rounds
Was Irish light heavy champ
Win
Billy Kilby
14 Jan, 1949
Binghamton, NY
1st Round KO
Win
Johnny Pretzie
30 May 1949
Coney Island, Brooklyn
4th Round KO
Pretzie had already fought Marciano
Loss
Roland LaStarza
27 June 1949
Coney Island, Brooklyn
4th Round TKO
Heavyweight contenderUndefeated with 33 total wins
Loss
Rocky Marciano
18 July 1949
Providence, RI
3rd Round KO
Future World heavy champ
