North Miami Beach, FL – Furious family members are horrified that a Holocaust survivor concocted a story that the girl who became his wife saved him from starvation by tossing apples and bread over a concentration-camp fence.
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Ken Rosenblat, the son of Holocaust hoaxer Herman Rosenblat, said he knew of the lie “for many years” but couldn’t stop his 79-year-old dad from spreading it.
“It was always hurtful,” he said.
And Jutta Rosenblat, 85, Herman’s sister-in-law, said her late husband, Sam, knew about the hoax and was so angry he refused to talk to his brother as he lay dying two years ago.
“He knew the truth and it ate him up,” Jutta said.
In “Angel at the Fence,” a memoir to have been published in February, Herman Rosenblat said he met his wife, Roma, at Schlieben, a sub-camp of Buchenwald, when she tossed him apples and bread over the fence.
After the war, he claimed, he met the girl again on a blind date in the Big Apple and they got married. The blind date was real, but the concentration camp story was questioned.
Rosenblat’s account, which Oprah Winfrey hailed as “the single greatest love story in 22 years,” was challenged by Holocaust scholars and family members in articles.
And on Saturday, Berkley Books canceled publication of the memoir, saying Rosenblat had admitted fabricating the part about the apples.
“I just wanted to bring happiness to people,” the retired TV repairman said.
But his son, Ken, said he is still stunned by the lie.
“My father is a man who I don’t know. I can’t understand it. It’s not my way of thinking,” he said.
“I didn’t agree with it. I didn’t want anything to do with it. I tried to just stay away from it,” said the son.
Jutta Rosenblat said she was stunned when she opened Sunday’s Post and learned that the hoax was out in the open.
“We feel very bad that it was exposed,” she said
Asked why she thought her brother-in-law had made up the tale, she said simply, “For money.”
WOW!!! What a Chilul Hashem!!! That touching story was played all over TV and the internet. How sad to exploit such a horrible period in Jewsih History and take advantage and benefit from it. “A shande far di goyim”. There’s enough anti semitism out there already. Why do we have to fuel the flames??
so not a story !!! greed got the worst of him so he made up the story ,, yes its sad .
well, it was a good story anyway. people do worse these days.
Money money money, yes it is the root of all evil.
It’s a shame that people resort to telling lies to make money.
He could have written a novel, and made money honestly.
Now he is just bringing shame to his family and loved ones.
Why is it that some historians are permitted to show inaccuracies in what happened in WW2, while other historians are persecuted for doing the same thing? Sounds like a double standard to me. This story of Rosenthal is only the tip of the iceberg, and many people are going to regret that they persecuted people who questioned events especially when they accept the questioning in other cases!
he should of writen it as a novel,
today you cant beleive in the media
andd them to the list of reason we look bad… madoff, rubashkin, merkin, etc
It is not like he blew up a car or something like that.
What is the big deal?
Who am I to question the psychological needs of this holocaust survivor? Okay, so he made it up, maybe he needed the money, maybe he had an unusual need for attention. So he embellished his life story… and “created” memories and experiences, but it’s not the end of the world. He didnt “steal” money from anyone.
It’s not necessarily a chillel Hashem, simply a shame that it will cause the public to doubt the unbelievable horrors retold by the few remaining survivors that actually are true. And this story can be used by Holocaust deniers to push their agenda.
Poor Hanoch Teller has this story on his DVD “Do You Believe in Miracles?”
I guess if Oprah got duped so can he.
it teaches that we should be honest–about everything and hakodesh boruch will hep us
People like this sick & pathetic old man give chizuk to Holocaust deniers. He needs serious psychological help.
People, get a grip. He embellished his own life story by adding APPLES and BREAD. That’s all he did. Give the guy a break. For some perspective, go read Obama’s books, which feature embellishments that have already been completely debunked as outright falsehoods. It’s a common technique to embellish one’s own life story. But when a Jew does it, suddenly it’s a horrific crime? Please, lighten up.
they fit in perefctly in North Miami Beach
You know this poor guy went through a lot in concentration camp – this is the fantasy that keeps the rest of him sane – he needed a happy feel to counter the real horrors.
His family should have blocked the publication of his fantasy by intervening earlier.
Wasn’t this part of an email that circulated around quite a bit?
Oprah was fooled before.
This book was like all those stories people circulate on the internet. I never believed that it was a true story. Stop being so naive.