Wilkomirski syndrome
The Wilkomirski syndrome (German: Wilkomirski-Syndrom) is when non-Jews present as Jewish Holocaust survivors or Jews with a Holocaust trauma in the family. It is named after Binjamin Wilkomirski, the pseudonym used by the author of Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood (1995), a discredited Holocaust memoir which initially received positive publicity and several awards. The 1998 revelation that the book was based on fabrications initiated public discussions in Germany and in 2001 the Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien hosted a conference on "Das Wilkomirski-Syndrom".[1] The term is a reference to the Munchausen syndrome.[2]
Daniel Ganzfried, the journalist who broke the story about Wilkomirski, argues that the case should be seen as a product of a larger industry of Holocaust-related material and academic Holocaust studies, where economic incentives lead to the creation of material of little or no value.[3] Later cases that have been discussed in Germany as examples of the Wilkomirski syndrome include Fabian Wolff, Wolfgang Seibert, Peter Loth and Marie Sophie Hingst.[4][5]
Other Known Cases
[edit]- Rosemarie Koczy (1939–2007), German-American artist, dedicated her life's work to the Shoah. Her works are part of the Guggenheim collection and Yad Vashem. Her extensive English-language memoirs, handwritten by her husband from transcriptions of personal interviews and orally recounted memories, are preserved as a three-volume manuscript at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. The case became known after her hometown of Recklinghausen wanted to include her in the online memorial book for the victims of Nazi rule and checked her details against official archive documents .
- Peter Loth (b. 1943), co-plaintiff in the trial against a former guard of the Stutthof concentration camp, claimed to have been born there and subjected to experiments with flu viruses and drugs as a child.
- Wolfgang Seibert (b. 1947), repeatedly convicted of fraud and embezzlement, chairman of the Jewish community of Pinneberg for 15 years, was exposed by research conducted by Der Spiegel, revealing that contrary to his claims, he was not Jewish.
- Marie Sophie Hingst (1987–2019), historian and "Blogger of the Year 2017" (title revoked in 2019), submitted 22 forged biographies of fictitious family members to the Yad Vashem memorial to lend more credibility to her story.
- Karin Mylius (1934–1986), chairwoman of the Jewish community of Halle, posed as a Holocaust survivor, but her father had been a police officer during the Nazi era. Although her legend was initially supported by the SED and authorities for political reasons, she was exposed and dismissed in 1984.
- Misha Defonseca (b. 1937), Belgian-American author.
- Magdolna Kaiser posed as a descendant of a fictitious Jewish assistant doctor of Josef Mengele.
- Irena Wachendorff (b. 1961), poet and political activist, claimed to be the daughter of Holocaust survivors and alleged participation on the Israeli side in the First Lebanon War.
- Laurel Rose Willson (1941–2002), American author, falsely claimed to be a Holocaust survivor in 1999.
- Axel Spörl, manager and theater official.
- Otto Uthgenannt (b. 1935) posed as a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp. He claimed that his parents and sister were killed there. In reality, Otto Uthgenannt came from a Protestant family that was not persecuted. Uthgenannt regularly gave lectures as a contemporary witness in schools.
- Isaac Lewinson alias Alfred Mende, district organizational leader of the NSDAP in Dresden and graduate of the NS-Ordensburg Krössinsee in Pomerania, claimed to have arrived in Siegburg from the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1945, posing as a survivor. He was even elected to the community board. He was recognized in 1948, leading to a court trial.
- Fabian Wolff (b. 1989), journalist and publicist.
See also
[edit]- List of impostors
- Racial misrepresentation
- Misha Defonseca
- Rosemarie Koczy
- Rosemarie Pence
- Laurel Rose Willson
References
[edit]- ^ Kassner, David (2002). "Das Wilkomirski-Syndrom. Eingebildete Erinnerungen, Oder: Von Der Sehnsucht, Opfer Sein Zu Wollen (Internationale Konferenz Des Moses Mendelssohn Zentrums Für Europäischjüdische Studien in Potsdam v. 23.-25.5.2001)". Zeitschrift für Germanistik (in German). 12 (3): 634–636. JSTOR 23976367.
- ^ Diekmann, Irene; Schoeps, Julius H., eds. (2002). Das Wilkomirski-Syndrom: Eingebildete Erinnerungen oder Von der Sehnsucht, Opfer zu sein (in German). Zürich: Pendo. ISBN 3-85842-472-2.
- ^ Baier, Lothar (4 August 2002). "Diekmann/ Julius Schoeps: Das Wilkomirski-Syndrom; Eingebildete Erinnerungen und von der Sehnsucht Opfer zu sein". Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved 14 June 2024.
- ^ Pohl, Dennis (17 August 2023). "Deutschland und das Wilkomirski-Syndrom". Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved 15 June 2024.
- ^ O'Sullivan, Dónal (2023). Fake: Famous Forged Documents and Their Historical Legacy. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-4766-7839-9.
 | This article related to the Holocaust is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |