klieger was interned for a period of time in the mechelen transit camp and in january 1944 he was sent to auschwitz. there he contracted pneumonia and expected to be put to death, but, as klieger recalled later, he personally addressed chief physician mengele and other physicians who accompanied him and succeeded in persuading them that he still could be of use. one of the doctors agreed to send him back to barracks. later he was saved from extermination by an extraordinary stroke of luck: one of the ss officers running the camp turned out to be an avid boxing fan and decided to form a boxing team of auschwitz prisoners. despite having no previous boxing experience, 16-year-old klieger volunteered to join the team. other team members who did have such experience in the pre-war world read his bluff but helped him stay on the team, withholding their own hits and allowing him to hit them. together with his teammates noah was fed better than other prisoners and sometimes even received soup from the officers' mess. they were also exempt from work in the afternoon hours so that they could train. in all other respects, they were treated no better than other prisoners and sometimes even harsher, to show them that their athlete status did not carry privileges.