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91-Year-Old Man Who Claimed He Escaped Auschwitz Admits Story a Lie


aushA 91-year-old Pennsylvania man who has for years lectured to school groups and others about what he said were his experiences at Auschwitz now says he was never a prisoner at the German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Joseph Hirt, of Adamstown, made the admission in a letter to LNP newspaper Wednesday. He said he used poor judgment and faulty reasoning in trying to tell the story of those affected by the Nazis.

“I am writing today to apologize publicly for harm caused to anyone because of my inserting myself into the descriptions of life in Auschwitz,” Hirt wrote. “I was not a prisoner there. I did not intend to lessen or overshadow the events which truly happened there by falsely claiming to have been personally involved.”

Hirt’s admission came weeks after his story of escaping from Auschwitz was questioned by Andrew Reid, a history teacher in Turin, New York. Reid and several students attended an April presentation by Hirt and the educator concluded that many of the speaker’s claims didn’t add up.

He launched his own investigation, which culminated in a 25-page letter he sent to media outlets and organizations that had written about or hosted Hirt. Those organizations unknowingly perpetuated “his false claims to an even greater audience,” Reid said.

Among other findings, his research indicated that the identification number tattooed on Hirt’s arm was actually that of another prisoner from 1944.

Hirt apologized to Reid in a phone call earlier this month, according to Reid, who said he pushed Hirt to make a public apology.

In his letter, Hirt recounted a visit he made to Auschwitz several years after World War II and said he was determined “at that moment to prevent the loss of the truth” about life and death at the concentration camp.

He said he was wrong to lie to discuss the “the important truth of the suffering and death of so many” at the hands of the Nazis. Hirt said he was wrong and asked for forgiveness.

(AP)



3 Responses

  1. Wow, how interesting and moving. This person, to a large degree, dedicated his life to raising awareness about the holocaust, and to tell over the story of the suffering of so many. In some ways, what a wonderful thing he was doing. The fact that not all the details were exactly true, should that take away from the good he has done?

    What about people that make up stories about gedolim since they “could have happened” in order to inspire people? Are those people any better or worse than what this person did?

  2. Oddly enough, this lie proves the truth of the existence of the Holocaust. It means there is a body of consistent evidence against which these claims were examined and compared. That means that everyone else told the SAME information. When compared to the evidence, this man’s story was PROVEN to be false.
    Logically, this should shut down the Holocaust deniers, but, sadly, it won’t. It will wake them up.

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