Author Apologizes For Faked Holocaust Book

[WildCat]

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

...Misha Defonseca's book, "Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years," was translated into 18 languages and made into a feature film in France.
Her two Brussels-based lawyers, siblings Nathalie and Marc Uyttendaele, said the author acknowledged her story was not autobiographical and that she did not trek 1,900 miles as a child across Europe with a pack of wolves in search of her deported parents during World War II.

Source (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/02/29/holocaust.bookhoax.ap/index.html).

All I am wondering was how gullible are people to believe such a ridiculous story in the first place? I've never heard of this book before today, has anyone here read it?

[Kaylee]

Source (http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/02/29/holocaust.bookhoax.ap/index.html).

All I am wondering was how gullible are people to believe such a ridiculous story in the first place? I've never heard of this book before today, has anyone here read it?

I never read the book or even heard of it. My guess is that the publisher wasn't too picky, and she just thought the book would sell well.

From the source you provided: She [edit: the publisher] said she could not fully research Defonseca's story before it was published because the woman claimed she did not know her parents' names, her birthday or where she was born.

How lame an excuse is that? The publisher could have asked the author to explain what her circumstances were right after the war and who helped her get reintegrated back into society. She could have made an attempt to verify her story or at least part of her story that way. Even for those times that would have been a unique situation and records would still have existed. And presumably since she is 71 now (also per the source), she was a child then, and would have needed a great deal of help.

And I have another question -- should people who intentionally fabricate false history be charged with a crime? I think its been argued that it should be covered under freedom of speech. Personally I think it should be considered a crime. Society is harmed when people intentionally lie about what occurred in the past. Its invaluable to be able to know what really occurred. ETA: Obviously, this thread is reminding me of others who have written books, produced forged documents, etc. in an attempt to prove that the holocaust never occurred. It can be argued that this woman's lie was not on as grand a scale, and that she may also have been mentally ill (per my read of the article citied in the OP), and so perhaps in her case, if intentionally fabricating false history was a crime, the sentencing would be light because of those two factors.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

All I am wondering was how gullible are people to believe such a ridiculous story in the first place? I've never heard of this book before today, has anyone here read it?

I think you can pretty much assume that any story about people being raised by wolves is a hoax. I can't imagine how one would fall for that.

[WildCat]

I think you can pretty much assume that any story about people being raised by wolves is a hoax. I can't imagine how one would fall for that.
That's what I thought was so bizarre about it. And this wolf pack travelled with her for 1900 miles throughout Europe? Was the publishers BS meter out being fixed when this was accepted for publication? And someone in France made a movie about this?

[Sunni Man]

Her story fits in with the rest of the holocaust fairy tale.

[Pardalis]

Her story fits in with the rest of the holocaust fairy tale.

Here we go... :rolleyes:

One crazy woman lied so the millions of other real testimonies are also fake?

[Pardalis]

I like her pathetic attempt at an excuse:

"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed. I beg you to put yourself in my place, of a 4-year-old girl who was very lost,"

Yeah, but it wasn't a four year old girl who wrote the book was it? What an idiot.

[LibraryLady]

This is not an isolated case. There was a case here in Baltimore where a woman was giving lengthy lectures about her experiences in the Holocaust, but it transpired she made it all up. Sometimes it's attention seeking, sometimes pathological. It does not lend any credence to Holocaust denial, anymore than made up stories told by soldiers lend credence to a non-existant World War II.

I'm sorry, Sunni Man, you've lost all credibility with me by your comment.

[brodski]

That's what I thought was so bizarre about it. And this wolf pack travelled with her for 1900 miles throughout Europe? Was the publishers BS meter out being fixed when this was accepted for publication? And someone in France made a movie about this?
You're assuming that publishers and producers cared about truth rather than just seeing euro signs in front of their eyes.

the other factor is attitude like the one below.

Her story fits in with the rest of the holocaust fairy tale.

It becomes difficult to question the exaggerations and downright leis made by a few people regarding the Holocaust (human soap etc) as the neo-Nazis and their fellow travellers jump on any criticism of any story about the Holocaust as "evidence" that the overwhelming evidence of a systematic genocide of millions of people is also unreliable.

[Sunni Man]

I'm sorry, Sunni Man, you've lost all credibility with me by your comment.
I have never understood why belief in the holocaust is like some sort of a litmus test for credibility.

If a person has doubts concerning the holocaust as advertized. Then anything they say on any issue is suspect and discredited.

Simply amazing!

[LibraryLady]

I have never understood why belief in the holocaust is like some sort of a litmus test for credibility.

If a person has doubts concerning the holocaust as advertized. Then anything they say on any issue is suspect and discredited.

Simply amazing!

It's because of the overwhelming evidence. Eyewitness testimony of the victims, the perpetrators and the liberators, photographs, film, records kept by the Nazis themselves, diaries, etc. If you are not capable of believing in something that has overwhelming evidence of its existence, then you are not a person whose opinion I value; you lose credibility.

Does that answer your question?

[Zep]

Ask Rob Lancaster about these sorts of frauds. It's how he got started in the "Stop" business: www.stopkaz.com

[kerikiwi]

Her story fits in with the rest of the holocaust fairy tale.

The murder of Jews, Romany, Jehovah's Witnesses, Homosexuals?
All a fairy tale?
Rather her story fits in with your own delusions.

[LibraryLady]

It's because of the overwhelming evidence. Eyewitness testimony of the victims, the perpetrators and the liberators, photographs, film, records kept by the Nazis themselves, diaries, etc. If you are not capable of believing in something that has overwhelming evidence of its existence, then you are not a person whose opinion I value; you lose credibility.

Does that answer your question?

I guess it answered his question.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

It's because of the overwhelming evidence. Eyewitness testimony of the victims, the perpetrators and the liberators, photographs, film, records kept by the Nazis themselves, diaries, etc. If you are not capable of believing in something that has overwhelming evidence of its existence, then you are not a person whose opinion I value; you lose credibility.

Does that answer your question?


Interesting. I think the math shows that the Germans murdered 4 million Jews not the 6 million advertised.

Does this place me out of your credibility box?

[mijopaalmc]

Interesting. I think the math shows that the Germans murdered 4 million Jews not the 6 million advertised.

Does this place me out of your credibility box?

Do you consider your calculations to be authoritative?

Have actually examined the primary sources?

[fuelair]

Her story fits in with the rest of the holocaust fairy tale.Before I merely thought of you as a pointless religious or trolling time waster. Now think beneath slime mold on the ground under dinosaur dung at the base of the evolution tree.

On the bright side, when I said "no honor" you have proved me correct.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Do you consider your calculations to be authoritative?

Have actually examined the primary sources?

yep

yep

[LibraryLady]

I did not mention numbers. As far as I have read--and I have read a lot--the total was 12 million with a mixture of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Disabled, and others. Does it matter exactly how many were Jews?

ETA: Advertised? Strange use of the word.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I did not mention numbers. As far as I have read--and I have read a lot--the total was 12 million with a mixture of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Disabled, and others. Does it matter exactly how many were Jews?

To some it does matter. That is why I asked the question. If one comes off the 6 million number the charges of anti-semitism follow immediately.

[mijopaalmc]

To some it does matter. That is why I asked the question. If one comes off the 6 million number the charges of anti-semitism follow immediately.

Evidence?

[LibraryLady]

So...you think 4 million is an acceptable number of Jews to be killed?

[Sunni Man]

ETA: Advertised? Strange use of the word.A word used in sales.

The Holocaust Industry is a huge money making enterprise that feeds woo to gulible people to keep the hoax alive and money pouring in.

[MG1962]

Interesting. I think the math shows that the Germans murdered 4 million Jews not the 6 million advertised.

Does this place me out of your credibility box?

The figures show between 4 and 8 million deaths, with a figure of around 5.7 million considered to have the strongest case

[mijopaalmc]

A word used in sales.

The Holocaust Industry is a huge money making enterprise that feeds woo to gulible people to keep the hoax alive and money pouring in.

Why is it so important to that the Holocaust be a hoax?

[Quinn]

My favorite line from the article:

"This story is mine. It is not actually reality, but my reality,[...]"


You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

[Sunni Man]

Why is it so important to that the Holocaust be a hoax?The Zionists of Israel use the "hoax" holocaust as an excuse for many of their brutal acts against the Palestinian people.

The irony is that a "real" holocaust against semitic people has been going on in Israel for over 60 years.

[mijopaalmc]

The Zionists of Israel use the "hoax" holocaust as an excuse for many of their brutal acts against the Palestinian people.

The irony is that a "real" holocaust against semitic people has been going on in Israel for over 60 years.

Why can't the Holocaust be true and Israel be abusing the memory of those who died in it?

Why must the Holocaust be a "hoax" in order to legitimate the suffering of the Palestinians?

[Sunni Man]

Why can't the Holocaust be true and Israel be abusing the memory of those who died in it?

Why must the Holocaust be a "hoax" in order to legitimate the suffering of the Palestinians?Good points mijopaalmc

Look I believe that there were many people killed by the Nazis.

But I also believe that the numbers have been inflated for political reasons.

And that the Zionists of the world have turned the holocaust into a cash cow.

[geni]

Interesting. I think the math shows that the Germans murdered 4 million Jews not the 6 million advertised.

Does this place me out of your credibility box?

4 million is too low. The six million comes from Adolf Eichmann's estimate and given his position it is not unreasonable to think that he had reasonable idea of the number killed. Maths on censuses figures suggest that that figure is pretty close. Other older estimates have come out between 5 and 6 million

[geni]

The Zionists of Israel use the "hoax" holocaust as an excuse for many of their brutal acts against the Palestinian people.

The irony is that a "real" holocaust against semitic people has been going on in Israel for over 60 years.

Over 60 years? so before 1948? Back then the area was the british mandate of palistine. Are you accuseing the british empire of carrying out genocide in that area?

[qayak]

Good points mijopaalmc

Look I believe that there were many people killed by the Nazis.

But I also believe that the numbers have been inflated for political reasons.

And that the Zionists of the world have turned the holocaust into a cash cow.

The downfall of your idiocy is the records kept by the Nazis. It isn't Zionists inflation that gives us the numbers, it is the Nazi records and simple arithmetic.

There is a convergence of evidence that is overwhelmingly against what you have been told, and come to believe, by your denier buddies.

[Sunni Man]

Over 60 years? so before 1948? Back then the area was the british mandate of palistine. Are you accuseing the british empire of carrying out genocide in that area?O.K. it was 59 years ago. Satisfied?

[mijopaalmc]

Sunni Man-

Let me get this straight you think that Hitler and the Nazis killed (you haven't said whether it was systematically or not) millions of civilians in territory under their military control, but you think that the "Zionists" (whoever they may be, if they exist at all in the capacity which you ascribe to them) have "inflated" the number of dead Jews in order to excuse the atrocities you perceive are committed against the Palestinians in modern Israel.

Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you?

[fuelair]

The Zionists of Israel use the "hoax" holocaust as an excuse for many of their brutal acts against the Palestinian people.

The irony is that a "real" holocaust against semitic people has been going on in Israel for over 60 years.
As long as the Palestinian people keep hiding murdering terrorist slime among them , nothing is illegitimate in that. Israel needs no "help" with a "hoax" to go after terrorists and their accomplices (civilians who hide them/allow them to hide). You are clearly an apologist for terrorists and , within the best limits of my knowledge either incompetant or lying - though both is a possibility.

[Sunni Man]

Sunni Man-



Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you?
Zero

[mijopaalmc]

Zero

What exactly does that mean?

That no Jews were killed and the dead Jew figure was completely fabricated?

That not killing Jews is an outrage?

[LibraryLady]

Sorry. I refuse to die just to please you.

[mijopaalmc]

Sorry. I refuse to die just to please you.

I hope that wasn't directed at me. I understand that my incessant questioning may be interpreted as my stating an opinion without really stating an opinion, especially since the question I am asking are leading. However, they should not be construed as and are not intended to be construed as supporting Holocaust denial.

[LibraryLady]

It was directed at Sunni Man.

[coalesce]

Wow, this is going to get interesting fast.

Michael

[mijopaalmc]

It was directed at Sunni Man.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Sunni Man]

It was directed at Sunni Man.Why would you direct something like that to me?

I never called for anything to happen to you.

Are you baiting me for some sinister reason?

[qayak]

Why would you direct something like that to me?

Ever consider that she maybe jewish?

I never called for anything to happen to you.

But you did say you would be outraged if no jews were killed.

Are you baiting me for some sinister reason?

Forever the conspiracy theorist.

[Sunni Man]

But you did say the you would be outraged if no jews were killed.



No I didn't say that.

The question was, "Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you" ?

My answer was "Zero".

As in, "no number would be an outrage to me".

I never called for anything to happen to anyone.

Is she jewish? I don't know.

Obviously, she is anti-Islamic, and trying to set me up for some personal reasons.

[Terry]

No I didn't say that.

The question was, "Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you" ?

My answer was "Zero".

As in, "no number would be an outrage to me".


No number would be an outrage to you? So you're fine with six million? Please tell me I'm misunderstanding that!

[RandomJSF]

This has the potential to become quite an entertaining thread.

However... Perhaps entertaining is not the word I should use. It is more disheartening than anything else to see the methods of Holocaust denial, or at least something closely approximating Holocaust denial, in use.

I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

[kerikiwi]

No I didn't say that.

The question was, "Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you" ?

My answer was "Zero".

As in, "no number would be an outrage to me".

I never called for anything to happen to anyone.

Is she jewish? I don't know.

Obviously, she is anti-Islamic, and trying to set me up for some personal reasons.


I'll be charitable and assume you are having difficulty getting your meaning across.
Do you mean that any number would be an outrage, as in even one would be an outrage?
Your phrasing suggests that neither one killed nor 1 million would be an outrage.
And on to the anti-islamic claim. It may be obvious to you that Library lady (or was it someone else?)is being anti-islamic, but how you come to that conclusion sure beats me.

But if you do want to accuse someone of being anti-islamic, please pick me.
I am anti-all religions.

You don't need anyone to set you up for any reason, personal or otherwise. You are managing very well without help.

[qayak]

Obviously, she is anti-Islamic, and trying to set me up for some personal reasons.

Isn't it just one of your personal issues that makes you think anyone who disagrees with you is anti-islamic?

[stilicho]

...records kept by the Nazis themselves...
This important point is often forgotten. The SS was meticulous in its record-keeping. Its own records are ordinarily used to verify or refute eye-witness stories. Historians rarely depend on mere eye-witness stories as the basis for investigation.

As for the book, simply its premise would lead me to avoid it.

[stilicho]

yep

yep
You've read the primary sources in German? The Gestapo and SS records come to volumes. It's almost a lifetime of reading material.

[Redtail]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, It's threads like this that make me so happy I'm Black and engaged to a relative of Eichmann's. I almost wish I was just good friends with her and she was still with her Ex cuz he's Jewish.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

So...you think 4 million is an acceptable number of Jews to be killed?

What a retarded question.


When was the last time you beat your husband?

[JEROME DA GNOME]

4 million is too low. The six million comes from Adolf Eichmann's estimate and given his position it is not unreasonable to think that he had reasonable idea of the number killed. Maths on censuses figures suggest that that figure is pretty close. Other older estimates have come out between 5 and 6 million

Nope, the 6 million number is from counting all the Jews that were no longer in Europe after the war.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Just how many dead Jews are an outrage to you?

Just how many dead people of any race or creed are an outrage to you?

Are you some sort of racist that values certain races over others?

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, It's threads like this that make me so happy I'm Black and engaged to a relative of Eichmann's. I almost wish I was just good friends with her and she was still with her Ex cuz he's Jewish.

What exactly is the relevance of a persons lineage?

Are you some sort of racist that counts a person's lineage?

[gtc]

I like her pathetic attempt at an excuse:

"I ask forgiveness to all who felt betrayed. I beg you to put yourself in my place, of a 4-year-old girl who was very lost,"

Yeah, but it wasn't a four year old girl who wrote the book was it? What an idiot.

Photos of David Hicks (Australian inmate of Guantamo Bay) as a boy were plastered all over the media during his trial for much the same reason.


What exactly is the relevance of a persons lineage?

Are you some sort of racist that counts a person's lineage?

Do you not see the irony in a relative of a nazi marrying a Jew?

Although as someone who admires Redtail's posts (and a fellow miscegantor) I am glad he is engaged.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Do you not see the irony in a relative of a nazi marrying a Jew?

No, I do not see the relevance at all. Those that see race and creed and define race and creed are by definition racist.

[a_unique_person]

This is not an isolated case. There was a case here in Baltimore where a woman was giving lengthy lectures about her experiences in the Holocaust, but it transpired she made it all up. Sometimes it's attention seeking, sometimes pathological. It does not lend any credence to Holocaust denial, anymore than made up stories told by soldiers lend credence to a non-existant World War II.

I'm sorry, Sunni Man, you've lost all credibility with me by your comment.

It sounds like here real story was devastating for her, but she did not think it would be accepted as such, hence the need for her to come up with a fantastical fantasy that she thought would make people pity her. Unfortunately, someone picked up on her fantasy and pushed her into publishing it. (If we accept her explanation). I don't feel any need for her to be attacked. People's biographies often turn out to be at variance with the truth. She's only human. I remember reading the story in our local paper about a Holocaust survivor from one of the death camps. He was spared because he was able to write amusing, obscene ditties for the troops there, among other tasks allocated to him. He is now an old, lonely, sad man. Nothing spectacular or noble about his story of survival, but very human.

Unfortunately, it this story will give the likes of Irving a big boost.

[a_unique_person]

Here we go... :rolleyes:

One crazy woman lied so the millions of other real testimonies are also fake?

I think she's very human.

[gtc]

No, I do not see the relevance at all. Those that see race and creed and define race and creed are by definition racist.

Get over yourself.

You don't actually have to care about race or creed to recognise that Eichmann would have cared that his relative was marrying someone a Jew and to find this funny.

Are you seriously suggesting that a Black man who found it funny that a Jewish man was dating a relative of Eichmann is racist?

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Get over yourself.

You don't actually have to care about race or creed to recognise that Eichmann would have cared that his relative was marrying someone a Jew and to find this funny.

Are you seriously suggesting that a Black man who found it funny that a Jewish man was dating a relative of Eichmann is racist?

No, I find it racist.

[gtc]

Those that see race and creed and define race and creed are by definition racist.

No, I find it racist.

You have changed your story in quarter of an hour.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

You have changed your story in quarter of an hour.

You are a liar. I said the same thing. Why are you telling untruths? To cover for your racism?

Most racists are liars that lie about those that point out their racism.

[Redtail]

What exactly is the relevance of a persons lineage?

None, but the fact that a Black guy is sleeping with a relative of Eichmann's tends to drive the Neonazi's nuts and that's fun to me.

Are you some sort of racist that counts a person's lineage?
Nope! Because if you name a "race" except Asian I'm it!:p

[gtc]

None, but the fact that a Black guy is sleeping with a relative of Eichmann's tends to drive the Neonazi's nuts and that's fun to me.

I apologise for finding this funny and I especially apologise to anyone who I have offended with my racism. I hope that one day, with the support of those friends and family who stood by me despite my racism, I will be able to put this shameful episode behind me.

Please seek help for making this joke Redtail. It is not too late for you either.





I also apologise if this sarcastic post has offended anyone.

[mrbaracuda]

I also believe that the numbers have been inflated for political reasons.

"Many things" in "The Protocols of Zion" also "ring true" to you, don't they? Eh? (http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=3471769&postcount=52)

I seriously wonder if this is this "E.J. Armstrong". He's been awfully quiet in specific threads where this guy's been active. :boxedin:


All I am wondering was how gullible are people to believe such a ridiculous story in the first place?

Yea, and even a movie. I wonder under what it ran. Fiction maybe? :p

[a_unique_person]

I seriously wonder if this is this "E.J. Armstrong". He's been awfully quiet in specific threads where this guy's been active. :boxedin:


Maybe accusations like that are not warranted without evidence.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

I apologise for finding this funny and I especially apologise to anyone who I have offended with my racism. I hope that one day, with the support of those friends and family who stood by me despite my racism, I will be able to put this shameful episode behind me.

Please seek help for making this joke Redtail. It is not too late for you either.





I also apologise if this sarcastic post has offended anyone.


:D

That was hilarious!

[mrbaracuda]

Maybe accusations like that are not warranted without evidence.

It's not an accusation, good sir! :)

[Alt+F4]

The Zionists of Israel use the "hoax" holocaust as an excuse for many of their brutal acts against the Palestinian people.

The irony is that a "real" holocaust against semitic people has been going on in Israel for over 60 years.

Yup, I'm right again. Has there ever been a conversation about Holocaust denial without "zionism" being thrown in? Do you ever wonder why?

[mijopaalmc]

Just how many dead people of any race or creed are an outrage to you?

Are you some sort of racist that values certain races over others?

Way to misread what I wrote (but I suppose that I shouldn't expect any less from you). I was responding specifically to Sunni Man's insistence that the number of Jew killed in the Holocaust was inflated to increase sympathies towards the Jews and excuse all of Israel's actions with respect to the Palestinians, so it was perfectly appropriate for me to ask how many Jewish deaths he would accept before it became an outrage to him.

[fuelair]

Obviously, she is anti-Islamic, and trying to set me up for some personal reasons.
You are foul and a detriment to real Muslims everywhere.

[Sunni Man]

You are foul and a detriment to real Muslims everywhere.Your opinion means sooo much to me. Not!!!!!!!

[Aerik]

Wow. That really is ridiculous.

But this kind of thing really is common in Germany and some other European countries. There are plenty of German families who had a Nazi member, and supported that member, were way into Nazi-ism, but will instead rewrite their family history so that they had a Jew ancestor who was killed and did something heroic.

[JEROME DA GNOME]

Way to misread what I wrote (but I suppose that I shouldn't expect any less from you). I was responding specifically to Sunni Man's insistence that the number of Jew killed in the Holocaust was inflated to increase sympathies towards the Jews and excuse all of Israel's actions with respect to the Palestinians, so it was perfectly appropriate for me to ask how many Jewish deaths he would accept before it became an outrage to him.

I was reflecting back on you what you were doing to him.

It is a rather loaded question that you asked, was it not?

[mijopaalmc]

I was reflecting back on you what you were doing to him.

It is a rather loaded question that you asked, was it not?

I still think that it was appropriate because I frankly don't see why it matters whether 6 or 6000000 Jewish civilians were killed by the Nazi because they were Jewish. It's still utterly despicable either way.

[Pardalis]

I think she's very human.

You're right, but everyone is accountable for their actions.

[Safe-Keeper]

The Holocaust Industry is a huge money making enterpriseHow does this alleged money-making make the Holocaust less credible? Evidence was evidence, last time I checked.

[kerikiwi]

How does this alleged money-making make the Holocaust less credible?
This question is way too simple, and way too hard.
Care to gamble that it will be ignored?

[Sunni Man]

How does this alleged money-making make the Holocaust less credible? Evidence was evidence, last time I checked.

Faked evidence used to support a hoax like the holocaust, and make money off of it is wrong.

[Pardalis]

Faked evidence used to support a hoax like the holocaust, and make money off of it is wrong.

If it's a hoax, then why do you use Nazis to describe Israel?

[kerikiwi]

Faked evidence used to support a hoax like the holocaust, and make money off of it is wrong.

Do you think (and I use the term reluctantly) that the huge mass of evidence is false?
Do you maintain (that's a better term. It can be done without actually thinking) that the Nazis did not murder huge numbers of Jews, Romanies, homosexuals, communists, Jehovah's Witnesses?

[timhau]

One crazy woman lied so the millions of other real testimonies are also fake?

Obviously. And since there are fake 9/11 survivors (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tania_Head) too, we can conclude that the Twin Towers are still standing in lower Manhattan.

[ddt]

This is not an isolated case. There was a case here in Baltimore where a woman was giving lengthy lectures about her experiences in the Holocaust, but it transpired she made it all up. Sometimes it's attention seeking, sometimes pathological. It does not lend any credence to Holocaust denial, anymore than made up stories told by soldiers lend credence to a non-existant World War II.
There was also the case of Binjamin Wilkomirski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binjamin_Wilkomirski) some years ago in Switzerland. An article at the Dutch skeptics (http://www.skepsis.nl/wilkomirski.html) site explains more in detail, how he had a psychotherapist friend who helped him refind his "repressed" childhood memories. From this article (http://bad.eserver.org/issues/2002/61/grosshoffman.html):
In 1979 Wilkomirski met an Israeli psychologist named Elitsur Bernstein who had been practicing in Zurich for twenty years. With Bernstein, Wilkomirski began to work on recovering his "repressed memories."
To support his obsessive historical studies Wilkomirski has apparently amassed a library of more than two thousand books related to the Holocaust. He is expert on most aspects of that history and has read more than his share of survivors' autobiographical narratives. What seems to have happened is that in creating his own autobiographical narrative Wilkomirski retained the emotional traumas that lie at the heart of his emotional dissociation, but substituted for the actual events of his early childhood events drawn from the history of the Jews in the Holocaust, a subject on which he has apparently brooded for more than thirty years.

[dudalb]

Zero

Wow, a new playmate for MaGZ.
Welcome to my bigot list,pal.

[dudalb]

A Belgian writer has admitted that she made up her best-selling "memoir" depicting how, as a Jewish child, she lived with a pack of wolves in the woods during the Holocaust, her lawyers said Friday.

I have not read the book, but I would bet that Kipling's version of this story is a lot,lot,better.

[LordoftheLeftHand]

There is about a much evidence for the Holocaust as there is for the existence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the supposed 32nd president). You see the myth of FDR was created by a secret paramilitary group called the March of Dimes. To make school kids believe that FDR was a real person they had his face put on the dime. The March of Dimes is a secret front group that pretends to be interested in the health of children but actually is only interested in fatting them up for the slaughter, since they are run by a satanic cannibals inspired by their founder Johnathon Swift. In Johnathon Swift's manifesto ("A Modest Proposal") he details how the eating of infant flesh is economically viable. Oh and the phone company was involved also, since you needed all those dimes to operate pay phones (once this was exposed they quickly switched to quarters).

So anyone you know who claims to remember, seen, or even voted for FDR is just a shill.

LLH

[slingblade]

No, I do not see the relevance at all. Those that see race and creed and define race and creed are by definition racist.

No, they aren't.

I've an answer to this statement, but it's definitely a derail of the topic.
....and I don't know what to do with it, or what else to say. Carry on. :cool:

[SDC]

I remember when that wolves story got publicized. I was at a dinner sponsored by my synagogue, and as a historian I got a lot of questions. I hadn't read the book but said it was a pretty astonishing story; I also remember saying that as far as I knew there were no wolves left in the wild in western Europe.

I don't know whether it has been described in clinical terms, but there is a kind of "Munchhausen by proxy" which seems associated with terrible events; working oneself into the story, so to speak. The same has been discussed in the Conspiracy area, concerning 9/11. I remember that TAM (the individual, not the event), who is a physician, had some relevant comments.

[SDC]

Oh also, let me add how impressed I am to learn of Jerome's research capabilities, not least his/ her linguistic skills. Astonishing! All those sources in German (heaven knows the Germans produce paperwork), Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian, Polish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Czech... He/ she must practically live at the Bad Arolsen archives. Very impressive indeed.

(Hint: disbelief.)

[SDC]

There is about a much evidence for the Holocaust as there is for the existence of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (the supposed 32nd president). You see the myth of FDR was created by a secret paramilitary group called the March of Dimes. To make school kids believe that FDR was a real person they had his face put on the dime. The March of Dimes is a secret front group that pretends to be interested in the health of children but actually is only interested in fatting them up for the slaughter, since they are run by a satanic cannibals inspired by their founder Johnathon Swift. In Johnathon Swift's manifesto ("A Modest Proposal") he details how the eating of infant flesh is economically viable. Oh and the phone company was involved also, since you needed all those dimes to operate pay phones (once this was exposed they quickly switched to quarters).

So anyone you know who claims to remember, seen, or even voted for FDR is just a shill.

LLH

How about Eleanor?

[Madalch]

How about Eleanor?
"Eleanor" was a plant- it was actually Hoover in a dress.

[Corsair 115]

Faked evidence used to support a hoax like the holocaust, and make money off of it is wrong.May I ask what other major events in recent history may also be hoaxes (of one kind or another) by your estimation? Specifically, 9/11 and the Apollo lunar landings?

The point of the question is to try and determine how much documentary and scientific evidence of an event you are willing to disregard.

[mrbaracuda]

All those sources in German (heaven knows the Germans produce paperwork)

You don't happen to know about an online archive for this paperwork, do you? :) I'd love to have a look myself. Hm. Love sounds a bit weird here..

[CFLarsen]

Faked evidence used to support a hoax like the holocaust, and make money off of it is wrong.

Bumped.

What is your evidence that the Holocaust is a hoax?