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Did this guy really do something so bad that his brother refused to talk to him on his death bed? I could see if the guy made up a story about himself being a hero or taking credit for something someone else actually did, but this is simply some sort of love story...a feel good story. Is there something wrong with this? Am I missing something? Granted, he shouldn't have called it a memoir and should have labeled it fiction, but so what? Is it possible that this book would change others opinions about the holocaust? Does it somehow make the holocaust seem less horrific than it actually was? Does it lend support to the nazi actions?

I think this hype is a whole lot of nothing. What's your opinion?

From the NY Post....

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.

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 told The Post.

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 in The New Republic.

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.

His son, Ken, told the magazine's Web site 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."

The holocaust should be studied by every kid in every country. For obvious reasons. Herman Rosenblat told a fib. He incurred the wrath of his family for it. Punishment enough.

I'm at a loss...I still don't see what the big thing is with what this man did...He wrote a feel good love story...It had no adverse affects on anyone other than those who seek to make themselves some sort of victims. His story does nothing to diminsh the severity of the holocaust...It in no way denies the atrocities...I think this is a lot to do about nothing.

Marty...I received your e-mail about this topic and all I will say about it is that the story being an "insult" is their opinion. My opinion is that this is a lot of hype about nothing.

Jim, my purpose in sending the email was not to justify criticism of the book but to present one take on the subject that might explain why some people feel the way they do.

Take another look at my closing comment in message #5.

Marty... I think we both agree, it is a matter of opinion.

Yes it is. . .I just wanted you (and perhaps others) to understand the emotional reaction on the part of survivors and those close to them, and how those emotions can easily overrule what those who weren't involved would see as rational or logical.

That can be said for any situation.

Calm down...I was speaking about Marty's statement.

My statement is hardly "any situation."

What?? Are you looking to be a victim or something???

I answered your statement with a statement, period!

The real point is that by passing off an untrue account of the Nazi murder of the Jews as Fact, with many influential people stating that it doesn't matter, publish it anyway, make a movie of it, it all gives ammunition to those who deny this mass murder ever took place. If a lie about a specific set of people is allowed, why isn't the historic truth about all of it a lie as well? This man and cohorts unwittingly have attempted to perpetrate a terrible crime against the victims of the Nazis.

The holocaust was an event of biblical proportions. There is no way to prevent the world of people, now and in the future, from writing fictional accounts of it. Each will impart some sense of the event, like a movie about any of our wars, as well as factual inaccuracies. The documented truth about the holocaust will remain in the hands of historians and groups whose mandate is preservation of the truth. Researchers will have access to the truth, through these sources. But, the event was so important as to require its teaching in all schools, at the earlest grade levels where it likely to be understood.

Jim, I was just making fun of Frank's comment.

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