Liars dupe Oprah, New York City publishers, again…
flockwoodAnd yes, there’s a lesson for people of faith in this latest publishing nightmare, that I’ll get to in a moment.
Angel At the Fence — the latest fraud — is the second bogus Holocaust memoir to be exposed this year. (see AP story below) The first involved a woman, Misha Defonseca, who claimed to have been raised by wolves during World War II.
Surviving With Wolves: The Most Extraordinary Story of World War II is still available on Amazon.com and it is a most extraordinary fraud.
Angel at the Fence, by Herman Rosenblat, is another flaming whopper. “I wanted to bring happiness to people,” Rosenblat said, explaining why he had lied to millions of people via Oprah and other outlets.
Oprah and her media empire have been duped by other pseudo-memoirists, of course. This is only the latest.
Both books are, miracle stories. And often, people suspend disbelief when they hear a miracle story. After all, our sacred books are full of miracles. Virgins conceiving, dead men rising, water that is turned to wine and water that is walked on. These sacred stories, because they reportedly happened eons ago, cannot be proven or disproven. But millions of us choose to accept them either 1.) because we’ve had the stories drummed into our heads since we were toddlers or 2.) we believe we’ve found an all-knowing, all-powerful God — or more accurately — that this all-knowing, all-powerful God has allowed himself to be glimpsed by us. Many of us even believe we’ve seen glimpses of the miraculous in our own lives over the years.
So, when we hear a story about life conquering death, love overcoming hate, good beating evil, we don’t automatically rule them out. We entertain the possibility that they’re true, even if they involve space, time and matter defying the laws of physics. We may find ourselves rooting for the stories to be true.
We may suspend disbelief, and that’s okay. But we shouldn’t suspend skepticism. Modern-day miracles are only miracles if they are true and they’ll always withstand scrutiny. Otherwise, they’re a fraud. As Ronald Reagan used to say, “Trust, but verify.”
Our skepticism should remain in place even if we hear the modern day miracle proclaimed by Oprah or a pastor or our daily newspaper.
I’ve sat through sermons where the minister presented an urban legend about AIDS as though it were the gospel truth. And Lord knows I’ve heard plenty of dubious — or just plain wrong — statistics. Whenever I encounter a story — in print, from the pulpit, during an interview or anywhere else — I expect it to withstand scrutiny.
This embrace of skepticism isn’t an attack on faith, by the way. Far from it. The Vatican always places miracles under a microscope before certifying them to be legitimate. There’s even a Vatican bureaucracy, The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, which scrutinizes miracle stories that are linked to potential saints.
By HILLEL ITALIE
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The publisher of a disputed Holocaust memoir has canceled the book, adding the name Herman Rosenblat to a list of literary fakers and ending his story of meeting his future wife at a concentration camp.
“I wanted to bring happiness to people,” Rosenblat said in a statement issued Saturday through his agent, Andrea Hurst. “I brought hope to a lot of people. My motivation was to make good in this world.”
Rosenblat’s Angel at the Fence had been scheduled to debut in February, but Berkley Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), withdrew the memoir after allegations by scholars, friends and family members that his tale was untrue.
“Berkley Books is canceling publication of ‘Angel at the Fence’ after receiving new information from Herman Rosenblat’s agent, Andrea Hurst,” the publisher said in a statement. “Berkley will demand that the author and the agent return all money that they have received for this work.”
A couple of days earlier, Berkley had offered a qualified defense of the book, saying it was a work of memory, a story whose truth was known only to the author.
“This was not Holocaust education but miseducation,” Ken Waltzer, director of Jewish Studies at Michigan State University, said in a statement.
“Holocaust experience is not heartwarming, it is heart rending. All this shows something about the broad unwillingness in our culture to confront the difficult knowledge of the Holocaust. All the more important then to have real memoirs that tell of real experience in the camps.”
Hurst, interviewed Saturday by The Associated Press, declined to offer details of Rosenblat’s book deal, but said the amount of money was “not a great deal.” She said that rights to the book also had been sold to publishers in Poland, France and other countries.
Rosenblat, 79, a resident of the Miami area, was virtually unknown to the general public until the 1990s when he began speaking of how he came to know his wife, Roma Radzicky.
According to Rosenblat and his wife, he was a prisoner at a sub-camp of Buchenwald in Nazi Germany and she a young Jewish girl whose family was pretending to be Christian and lived nearby.
For months, they would meet on opposite sides of a barbed-wire fence, where she would sneak him apples and bread.
Rosenblat was then transferred to another camp and the two lost touch, until the 1950s, when they were reunited by accident — on a blind date — in New York. They soon married and earlier this year celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
The Rosenblats were interviewed twice over the years by Oprah Winfrey, who has called their romance “the single greatest love story … we’ve ever told on the air.” They have inspired a children’s book and a feature film adaptation is scheduled to begin next year.
The film’s producer, Harris Salomon of Atlantic Overseas Pictures, has vehemently defended Rosenblat and said in a statement Saturday that the production would continue. He noted that a “loose and fictionalized adaptation” had been planned all along and that “the integrity and the beauty of the story remains as a work of fiction.”
Salomon also said that the movie, retitled The Flower of the Fence, might address why the Rosenblats apparently “fabricated elements of their wartime love story” and that the author would donate any proceeds from the film to Holocaust related charities.
Unlike such discredited Holocaust memoirists as Misha Defonseca, author of Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years, and Benjamin Wilkomirski, who wrote Fragments, Rosenblat is indeed a survivor and records prove that he was at the Buchenwald camp.
“All of the story about Herman in the concentration camps and the love and survival of him and his brothers, he states is true,” Hurst, his agent, said in a statement.
“The way he lied for years and years was utterly reprehenisble,” said Sidney Finkel, a longtime friend and fellow survivor. “On the other hand, I feel sorry for him, because at a very early age he experienced the Holocaust and never had a chance to grow up in a normal home. Maybe this explains why he did what he did.”
Scholars long doubted the love story, citing, as one example, that the layout of the sub-camp made such an encounter at the fence virtually unthinkable — they would have met right by an SS barracks. Recent articles in The New Republic quoted friends and family members who were angered by Rosenblat, so much so that one of his brothers stopped speaking to him.
Survivors have worried that Rosenblat would encourage Holocaust deniers, and the cancellation likely will revive the debate over why publishers don’t fact check.
Even after such fabrications as James Frey’s A Million Little Pieces, publishers have said that with more than 100,000 books being issued each year, fact-checking is too time-consuming and too expensive.
Penguin already has had to break ties with two authors this year.
In March, the publisher pulled Margaret B. Jones’ Love and Consequences after the author acknowledged she had invented her story of befriending gang members in South-Central Los Angeles. One month later, Penguin parted with romance writer Cassie Edwards over allegations that she had lifted numerous passages from other sources.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:37 am
“This embrace of skepticism isn’t an attack on faith, by the way. Far from it.”
Amen. But I’ll wager that you catch Holy Hell from folks who cling to these comfortable stories, people for whom “believing is seeing”.
The conservative branch of The United Methodist Church commonly accuses our seminaries of atheism and anti-religious behavior because students are required to examine theology and doctrines quite seriously. The critics place much more value on unquestioning faith than they do on rigorous understanding and sound reasoning.
December 29th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Even the Vatican is relenting in its requirements, though. They have abolished the old position of “devil’s advocate,” whose job was to attempt to refute any miraculous stories flying around about a purported saint. As anyone who has ever tried a case against a party that put up no defense will tell you, it’s a whole lot easier to tell your story when you don’t have someone out there sniping at it and bringing in contrary evidence. So, naturally, during the reign of JPII, the number of people canonized as saints abounded, and no doubt they will include old JPII himself as soon as they conveniently can.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
It strikes me that the Religious Right has been playing this game for decades now. People such as Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, Reed, Wildmon, Bauer, Kennedy, Hagee, LaHaye, Perkins, North, Shackleford, Scarborough, Colson, Farris, Parsley, Land, Barton, and Mohler (among others) are professional myth-fabricators for Jesus, who invent stuff of all sorts because their god is so puny they think he needs all the help they can give him.
They attribute to him: authorship of a book (or collection of books), numerous wars, conquests, widespread destruction of widely varying sorts, demands that people believe a wide variety of nonsensical and/or contradictory ideas, pseudo-scientific claims about human nature, opposition to the political views of their enemies, and insistence on our supporting the political views and politicians of the party they are trying to take over.
December 30th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
If people would stop treating Oprah as the be all end all, this wouldn’t happen so much. Oprah is a god in her own mind and has somehow brainwashed people the world over. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear in the very near future that she is starting her own religion and we’ll have another Jim Jones and/or Tony Alamo on our hands.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:12 pm
I don’t see Oprah as the problem here, merely the most popular book publicist in America. Before this book, she flacked for hundreds of other books that weren’t lies. And, as far as coming up with her own religion, I don’t see where she sells her own ideas any more than Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray, or the host of other talk show hosts sell theirs. She is a big target because she is so popular.
December 30th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Caleb,
Most of the books she has hawked in the past were fiction. But most of the books she has hawked that were supposedly non-fiction have turned out to be a fraud, ergo, fiction.
She has said on the air many, many times she believes that she is a spiritual guide and “everyone is their own god.” PULEEZE!!!
Looks like you have been brainwashed by her mantra, too! (OPRAH, OPRAH, OPRAH)
Yeah, she’s a BIG target all right!!
December 30th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
You guys forget, this isn’t about religion, its about mass marketing, targeting a group of individuals with similar philosophies and economic resources with the only objective being, a mega profit.
December 30th, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Well, Cheri, given that I have not watched an episode of Oprah for years, if ever, the likelihood of my having been brainwashed by her is slight. As far as her mantra, having never heard it, I have to take your word for it, but I doubt that it has corrupted the masses. And when you attack Oprah for her size, you perhaps say more about yourself than her.
Perplexed, I agree. I doubt that Oprah has some grand scheme to destroy American religious values; I suspect that her motive is more along the lines of getting bigger ratings and selling books. One thing about it, Oprah is the only celebrity I know of who has actually gotten the masses, or at least a portion of them, to read a book other than the Left Behind series. So, I doubt that her influence is all bad.
December 30th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Caleb,
I’m glad you haven’t watched Oprah, neither have I. I know what she says because I read the newspapers and see it online and see her in interviews. As far as attacking her for her size, perhaps she just gains weight so she can attach her name to ANOTHER diet program and make even more mega-millions. Yes, I have yo-yo dieted, but about 20 years ago, I took off over 130 pounds through diet and exercise and I have kept it off. So I don’t want to hear it can’t be done, nor do I want to hear about a “gland” problem.
I don’t think she has a “scheme to destroy American religious values,” but I do believe she thinks she is god, her motive is to make more and more money. And as for the Left Behind series – I thought those books were pretty good. At least they were written by Christians, and helped convert many non-believers.
Whatever! I’m not going to debate religion or entertainers with you.
December 30th, 2008 at 11:20 pm
This hoax is a tragedy. The Rosenblats have hurt Jews all over and given support to those who deny the holocaust. I don’t understand why Atlantic Pictures is still proceeding to make a film based on a lie. I also don’t understand how Oprah could have publicized this story, especially after James Frey and given that many bloggers like Deborah Lipstadt said in 2007 that the Rosenblat’s story couldn’t be true.
There are so many other worthwhile projects based on genuine love stories from the Holocaust. My favorite is the one about Dina Gottliebova Babbitt – the beautiful young art student who painted Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on the children’s barracks at Auschwitz. This painting became the reason Dina and her Mother survived Auschwitz. After the end of the war, Dina applied for an art job in Paris. Unbeknownst to Dina, her interviewer was the lead animator on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They fell in love and got married. Now that’s a romantic love story! I also admire Dina for her tremendous courage to paint the mural in the first place. Painting the mural for the children caused her to be taken to Dr. Mengele, the Angel of Death. She thought she was going to be gassed, but bravely she stood up to Mengele and he made her his portrait painter, saving herself and her mother from the gas chamber.
Also, Dina’s story has been verified as true. Some of the paintings she did for Mengele in Auschwitz survived the war and are at the Auschwitz Birkenau Museum. The story of her painting the mural of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs on the children’s barrack has been corroborated by many other Auschwitz prisoners, and of course her love and marriage to the animator of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the Disney movie after the war in Paris is also documented.
Why wasn’t the Rosenblatt’s story checked out before it was published and picked up to have the movie made?? I would like to see true and wonderful stories like Dina’s be publicized, not these hoax tales that destroy credibility and trust.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:43 pm
If you want to castigate Oprah for being a fabulously rich entertainer with an eye for self-promotion, can we include a few others as well? Rush Limbaugh comes to mind. (Hey, he’s overweight too!) When we compare the two it’s clear that Ms. Winfrey comes off much better. Caleb is right– Oprah does get people to read and that truly is an achievement these days. And while everyone makes mistakes we ought to pay attention to what happens after. When James Frey’s memoir was revealed to be a fake Oprah famously denounced him on air and to his face. Perhaps she will do likewise with Rosenblat. As for Limbaugh, perhaps we can just observe that truth is hardly something of value in his reports. I suppose that he does say some true things from time to time, but that is merely incidental and has no bearing to the ideology or meanness disguised as entertainment.
As for for the Left Behind series, I know many people who read those books. Without exception they were already conservative Christians, and the books merely reinforced their beliefs. I doubt very much that many non-Christians were converted, which is a comforting thought when you consider what kind of faith they would adopt by reading the gospel according to LaHaye and Jenkins.
December 31st, 2008 at 1:52 pm
Cheri, after we exchanged ideas yesterday, I looked up the books that Oprah has tried to promote, through her book club. The list included three works by Faulkner, and works by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cormac McCarthy, Carson McCullers, Alan Paton, John Steinbeck, Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Kentuckian Barbara Kingsolver. I don’t pretend to know Oprah’s views on religion or much of anything else, but if anyone can get the modern public to read even one line of Faulkner or Steinbeck or McCarthy (one wonders why Hemingway is left out; perhaps a bit of political correctness creeping in), I’m in favor of it. As far as the Left Behind series, whatever yourself. I’ll take the Faulkner and Steinbeck and the Hemingway and leave the Left Behind Series behind. If, after all the wonderful religious books that have been written, it takes pulp fiction to bring people to Jesus, I’m not sure they’re really getting the point. But, as you say, whatever.
Happy New Year everyone!