Barry Levinson’s personal connection to his latest film ‘The Survivor’
nypost.compremiering April 27 on HBO — is based on the true story of Harry Haft, a Polish-born Jew who was sent to the Auschwitz concentration camp as a teen.
There he managed to survive by being a boxer and was forced to pummel fellow prisoners for the amusement of the German officers.After World War II, Haft eventually moved to the United States, where he continued his boxing career for an unusual reason: Haft was convinced his first love was still alive and believed that if he became famous enough through boxing, she would see his name in newspapers and they would be reunited.
His final bout was against future champ Rocky Graziano.He died in November 2007 at the age of 82.The incredible tale, starring Ben Foster as Haft, deals with many issues surrounding the Holocaust including post-traumatic stress disorder, Levinson told The Post.
The Oscar-winning director revealed in an exclusive interview that as a little boy growing up in post-war Baltimore he remembers his grandmother’s brother turning up one day on their doorstep.“I didn’t know she had a brother,” Levinson, 80, explained. “He stayed with us for several weeks, and they put him up in my bedroom, and the first night I was awakened by him screaming and talking.
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