Not another one! Not again! That's what most literary journalists and publishers will have thought this week, when Herman Rosenblat's description of finding love in a concentration camp - a "heartwarming Holocaust memoir", as one newspaper described it - was exposed as being more fiction than fact.
One scarcely dares guess what America's chat-show queen Oprah Winfrey - having been embarrassed by one fabricated memoir already - will have said about it in private. She invited Rosenblat on her show twice, and has described his tale as "the single greatest love story we've ever told on air".
She had a point, mind. It was a great love story. Now 79 years old, Rosenblat described how, as a teenage prisoner in Buchenwald, he was kept alive by a nine-year-old girl who passed apples to him through the camp's fence.
He was to re-encounter the girl, by a freak of chance, when in 1957 and by then living in the US, he went on a blind date in New York with a Polish girl named Roma Radzicki. He recognised her as the girl who gave him apples, they fell in love, and half a century later, Roma and Herman Rosenblat are still married and as much in love as ever.
Great love story it may have been - but true, it almost certainly was not.
The story has already formed the basis for a successful children's book, and a $25million (Dh92m) Hollywood movie about it is due to start shooting in spring. But just a month before Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived was due to be published in book form, an investigation by the American magazine The New Republic exposed its central story as fiction.
Historical scholars have attested that the layout of the camp made it impossible that anyone would have been able to get close to the fence. And a fellow survivor, Ben Helfgott, who "went through the Holocaust with Herman every step of the way", has even said that "there is not a word of truth in what he is saying".
Literary fakery, hoaxes and misdirection are all as old as the published word. Novels have been published as memoirs, and memoirs as novels, since either form came into existence. Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year - a book written by one of the fathers of prose fiction in English ? was a novel published (and often read) as if it were reportage.
The great Samuel Johnson was a pioneering debunker of literary hoaxes. When a Scottish schoolteacher, James MacPherson, claimed that his three volumes of poetry were translations from the work of a third-century Gaelic bard named Ossian, Johnson denounced him - correctly - as a "cheat".
Johnson also saw through Thomas Chatterton's pseudo-medieval poems, presented not as the work of a gifted 18th-century prodigy, but as the incunabula of a 15th-century monk named Thomas Rowley.
In the middle of the 20th century, the world went gaga for The Third Eye, the memoirs of one Tuesday Lobsang Rampa - a man who claimed to have entered a Tibetan monastery at the age of seven, undergone a mystical trepanning and conversed with an abominable snowman. It turned out he was actually a plumber from Devon, in the West of England.
Then there was Richard Llewellyn, who claimed his 1939 novel How Green Was My Valley had been based on his tough-but-romantic Victorian childhood in a mining community in South Wales. However, despite once visiting his grandfather, who lived there, he was born and brought up in England.
Often - as when Thomas More cast Utopia as being the true recollections of a traveller named Raphael Hythlodaeus - fakery is a literary device. In some cases, it is a prank - as when the editor of the Australian literary magazine Angry Penguins was hoaxed by two young writers who had invented the great modernist poet "Ern Malley". In others - as when the radio version of HG Wells's fantasy of a Martian invasion, The War of the Worlds was broadcast as if it were a news report, causing mass hysteria - it is a publicity stunt.
Our age has seen instances of the straightforward hoax, such as that of JT Leroy. The reclusive Leroy was a delicate boy who had suffered a horrific childhood travelling around the truck stops of America with his peripatetic, drug-addicted mother. His autobiographical short stories were published as The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (1999) and were - on their literary merits, quite deservingly - a huge success.
Leroy became a cult figure. His book about his mother, Sarah, was filmed by Gus Van Sant, and at a reading from Leroy's work in New York in 2002, I found myself standing next to Michael Stipe, the singer of the band REM.
Leroy was "too shy" to read from his own work - he skulked at the back wearing his fabled disguise of an enormous hat, huge dark glasses, and a big blond wig. A few years later, it emerged that Leroy never existed, and was the pen name of a writer named Laura Albert. The "J T" I'd seen at the reading was her then sister-in-law Savannah Knoop.
The explosion in demand for "misery memoirs" - and the multi-million-dollar publishing industry that they sustain - has brought a new and more insidious dimension to the blurring of the boundaries between fact and fiction.
The coin of this prurient industry is real pain. So in the two most profitable sectors of the market - Holocaust memoirs, and memoirs of child abuse - the hoaxers and fakers are guilty of something more serious than just pretending to have been Welsh, or fantasising about having met a yeti. They and their publishers are doing dirt, for profit, on the credibility of true survivors.
Among the earliest and perhaps still the most shocking instance of this was the story of Binjamin Wilkomirski, whose 1995 book, Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood, purported to describe his experiences as a Jewish child in two Nazi concentration camps. It emerged that Wilkomirski - real name Bruno Grosjean - had never been closer to a concentration camp than as a post-war tourist.
He had spent his entire childhood in Switzerland. Misha DeFonseca's Misha - supposedly the story of a Holocaust survivor who had trekked across Europe in search of her parents at the age of six and been adopted by a pack of wolves - followed hard on its heels, and bore just the same relation to reality.
Yet the authors of stories such as these are often people who have suffered genuine pain - albeit not exactly in the way in which, to please their publishers and the public, they have presented it. Rosenblat, we should not forget, did actually spend his teenage years in Buchenwald.
Their memories are often unreliable, their personalities vulnerable and fugitive, their need for the attention and validation of fame sometimes overwhelming. The question of who is exploiting whom - and, indeed, of how you can ever establish an absolute truth from conflicting and traumatised memories - is less clear-cut.
Even Dave Pelzer - the American writer whose A Child Called 'It' (1995) is widely regarded as having kicked off the misery memoir industry - had aspects of his story challenged by members of his family. Judith Kelly's memoir Rock Me Gently, describing abuse at the hands of brutal nuns in a Roman Catholic orphanage, turned out to contain passages lifted from Charlotte Brontë, Antonia White, and Hilary Mantel's comic novel Fludd. But was that fraud or, as was suggested in her defence, an accident of memory?
Norma Khouri's 2003 book Forbidden Love described how, in the early 1990s, the author had been living in Jordan and had acted as go-between between her Muslim best friend and the Roman Catholic soldier with whom she was having a love affair.
When the affair was uncovered, Khouri wrote, the girl was murdered by her own father in a so-called "honour killing". It turned out that during the years her book described, Khouri had actually been living in Chicago with her husband and two children.
By the time the British lawyer Constance Briscoe's mother sued her for libel - her book Ugly (2006) described her abused and neglected childhood - a jaded public seemed to raise one eyebrow, rather than both. In that case, though, the public was wrong: the truth of Briscoe's account was this year vindicated in court.
Far more intimidating than court, though, is trial by Oprah Winfrey. When James Frey, whose 2003 addiction story A Million Little Pieces, was exposed as a fraud, she summoned both him and his publisher on to her show and humiliated them in front of millions of viewers worldwide. Quite what lies in store for Rosenblat is yet to be seen. But we can be confident that it will make a great story.
The specs
Engine: 77.4kW all-wheel-drive dual motor
Power: 320bhp
Torque: 605Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh219,000
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Leap of Faith
Michael J Mazarr
Public Affairs
Dh67
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
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How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
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How much of your income do you need to save?
The more you save, the sooner you can retire. Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.com, says if you save just 5 per cent of your salary, you can expect to work for another 66 years before you are able to retire without too large a drop in income.
In other words, you will not save enough to retire comfortably. If you save 15 per cent, you can forward to another 43 working years. Up that to 40 per cent of your income, and your remaining working life drops to just 22 years. (see table)
Obviously, this is only a rough guide. How much you save will depend on variables, not least your salary and how much you already have in your pension pot. But it shows what you need to do to achieve financial independence.
Electric scooters: some rules to remember
- Riders must be 14-years-old or over
- Wear a protective helmet
- Park the electric scooter in designated parking lots (if any)
- Do not leave electric scooter in locations that obstruct traffic or pedestrians
- Solo riders only, no passengers allowed
- Do not drive outside designated lanes
The Rub of Time: Bellow, Nabokov, Hitchens, Travolta, Trump and Other Pieces 1986-2016
Martin Amis,
Jonathan Cape
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
EMIRATES'S%20REVISED%20A350%20DEPLOYMENT%20SCHEDULE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEdinburgh%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%204%20%3Cem%3E(unchanged)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBahrain%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2015)%3C%2Fem%3E%3B%20second%20daily%20service%20from%20January%201%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EKuwait%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20November%2015%20%3Cem%3E(from%20September%2016)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMumbai%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EAhmedabad%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20October%2027)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EColombo%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20January%202%20%3Cem%3E(from%20January%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EMuscat%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cem%3E%20%3C%2Fem%3EMarch%201%3Cem%3E%20(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ELyon%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBologna%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%201%20%3Cem%3E(from%20December%201)%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3ESource%3A%20Emirates%3C%2Fem%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
The specs: 2019 BMW i8 Roadster
Price, base: Dh708,750
Engine: 1.5L three-cylinder petrol, plus 11.6 kWh lithium-ion battery
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Power: 374hp (total)
Torque: 570Nm (total)
Fuel economy, combined: 2.0L / 100km
The Lowdown
Kesari
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Produced by: Dharma Productions, Azure Entertainment
Directed by: Anubhav Singh
Cast: Akshay Kumar, Parineeti Chopra
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
Walls
Louis Tomlinson
3 out of 5 stars
(Syco Music/Arista Records)
Match info:
Manchester City 2
Sterling (8'), Walker (52')
Newcastle United 1
Yedlin (30')
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 400hp
Torque: 475Nm
Transmission: 9-speed automatic
Price: From Dh215,900
On sale: Now
Vidaamuyarchi
Director: Magizh Thirumeni
Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra
Rating: 4/5
WORLD CUP SEMI-FINALS
England v New Zealand
(Saturday, 12pm UAE)
Wales v South Africa
(Sunday, 12pm, UAE)