Barry Levinson’s personal connection to his latest film ‘The Survivor’
premiering 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.