The Horse Adjutant
Stephen Shooster, Author of the Horse Adjutant
President of the Leon and Betty Schagrin Foundation
As told by Leon Schagrin
…and his friends Morris Katz and Max Blauner
Stephen Shooster, Author
Sherman Frank, Diane Shooster, Kamil Kmak Editors
Interviews by Jim Boring, Kamil Kmak, Malcolm Rosenberg, Stephen Shooster, Frank Shooster, Dahris Clair
Jim Boring, Muse
Steve Mizejewski, Layout & Graphics Consultant
Paintings and Drawings by, Shoosty
Secretary, Rose Diamond
I am humbled by this project. Taking the responsibility of capturing the story of a Holocaust survivor is something I never expected. This is especially true since the story of Leon Schagrin is not a simple one, perhaps the most horrible I have ever heard. But the thing that resonates the most, with me, was that while learning and documenting his maligned adventure was how massive and quickly, a whole race, my own race, was on the brink of total extermination. It is unthinkable to me, yet true.
His life starts out simple enough as a young boy who grew up with a loving family and a father who cared for horses. Before the age of 13 his family fades away, forever, and he reluctantly slips into his fathers shoes, caring for horses. Once he is comfortable with his beloved horse ‘Maciek,’ he hooks it to a carriage and hops on board becoming a ghetto driver. Soon, this gives him unprecedented access, as a Jewish ghetto boy, to the top Nazi brass of the ghetto Tarnow. And at the age of fifteen, he becomes not just a driver but the preferred driver for Hauptsturmführer Hermann Blanche and a few of his despicable foot soldiers as well as the Jewish leaders of the Judenrat or committee. He remains in this position for one year until the ghetto is methodically destroyed with everyone in it, thousands die as he is forced to watch. All of this is before he is transferred to three more camps, each worse than the one before. The fact that he has lived to tell the story at all is a testament to his personal willpower and impressive acumen combined with plain luck.
To write this story in the first person I had to become an actor. I had to become Leon, if just for a short while. It is a difficult role to play, one washed in a caustic bath of vitriol and because of this there were days I pondered the decadence he was subjected to and felt dizzy. I can’t imagine what he must still feel every day. Most people would block these horrors, as I know he must have as well, to have lived a long, productive, and loving life. But now that he is older, with the urgent frailty of macular degeneration, he was compelled to capture his story in writing, for all time.
The writing of this story would not have been be possible without Malcolm Rosenberg, Jim Boring and Kamil Kamic. Over an extended period of time on a weekly basis, each took turns asking Leon to recall his memories in the greatest painful details. I can’t stress enough ... the greatest, painful, details. There were many times when we had to stop and continue another day, because of exhaustion, not Leon’s but ours. This is an overwhelming story requiring many ponderous moments to connect the pieces, but Leon was always ready and able with an uncanny memory for names and dates.
I want to express special thanks to the folks who are currently running the Auschwitz archives in Poland. I was able to contact them via e-mail, provide Leon’s tattoo number and other details and they were able to confirm his whereabouts during his stay at the camp. What I received was a perfect match with Leon’s memory. And as an added plus while communicating with them, I discovered a photograph of Leon taken in 1950 when he happened to return for a short visit. Finding this image, to me, was like finding a precious jewel.
The highlight of my journey, besides spending quality time with Leon, was meeting his wife, Betty, and their friends from the old country. Notably, there were Max Blauner, who was a few years older then Leon when the story unfolded, and Morris Katz who has an infectious way of making me smile. Both of their stories remain to be told in detail. However, the little they were able to share added volumes to my understanding of Leon’s life and times.
Unlike most stories written about ‘The Holocaust’ this is a modern work completed in the age of the internet. Because of this, I had unprecedented access to research materials and people who were ready and able to help. Early on, I happened to seek out on facebook some help from Poland and was surprised how quickly I found someone from Leon’s own hometown of Grybow (Gree-Bow). His name is Kamil Kmak, and I depended upon him to keep the story alive. He took hundreds of photos of the area, read the early versions and sought out local people who are still alive to collect old photos. He also provided his personal perspective which opened my eyes to the broader conflict. Having facebook, Skype and the internet allowed Kamil and I to communicate instantaneously sharing images and more. In this way the new Polish generation, represented by Kamil, was able to talk to a survivor for the first time in his native language. This, in and of itself, was a modern miracle.
The completed story is compelling. Leon escaped death on many occasions only to face another life threatening challenge. But the more involved I became with this project the more I realized Leon acted as a guide for me to share with you not just his story but his love for the safety and wellbeing of all mankind. Having taken the time to document the details, I feel the most important thing I learned is that, To not bear witness, to the consequences of unbridled hate, is like keeping silent while it is being perpetrated, a crime in and of itself.
Stephen Shooster, Author 2010
President of the Leon and Betty Schagrin Foundation